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HENRY A. DREER 

714 CHESTNUT STREET 
PHILADELPHIA 



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DREER'S 



Vegetables Under Glass 



A LITTLE HANDBOOK TELLING HOW TO 

TILL THE SOIL DURING TWELVE 

MONTHS OF THE YEAR 



S-34H 

PHILADELPHIA ^.^Jt^^'^^'^ ^^^^ 
HENRY A. DREER, Incorporated 
714 Chestnut street 
1896 



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0377 



COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY 
HENRY A. DREER. 



SPANGLER & DAVIS, PRS., PHIl A 



I PREFACE. 

The old house of Henry A. Dreer begs leave to offer to 
the American public a little book on winter gardening ; on 
^ vegetable culture under glass. 

It is assumed that the best way to tell how to do things 
is to tell how things are being done by successful gardeners ; 
to deal meagerly in theory and largely in fact. 

So we have woven with our own long experience a series 
of recent field observations ; notes made by our own people ; 
pictures taken with our own cameras ; and, in places, the 
literal words used by practical gardeners in describing their 
processes and in giving their conclusions. 

To keep our business abreast of the times it is necessary 

for us to constantly note what the world is doing. In this 

little work we present a few pages from our note books to 

the horticultural public. 

Hbnry a. Drkbr, 

Incorporated. 

Philadelphia^ October z, i8g6. 



What business man, except a soil 
worker, will "stop and talk" with 
a stranger ? Who but a farmer or 
fruit grower or gardener will tell of 
his experience so fully and so freely, 
and so entirely without hope of gain ? 
Who else will so frankly reveal his 
business secrets for the benefit of 
his fellows ? Who else so clearly 
recognizes the fact that the world 
is large enough for all mankind ? 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE BEGINNING. 




People without experience or capital 
must begin at the foot of the ladder, if 
they would succeed in under-glass gar- 
dening. 

The key to the whole situation is the 
single sash, for when its uses and func- 
tions are fully understood, and its possi- 
bilities realized, the novice has become 
an expert, and is ready for greater things. 
The sash which at the start covers a 
cold frame is at length made to do duty 
on a hot bed. The hot bed sash, which 
originally began work in the spring, is 
put to work in the autumn, and made to produce results in 
winter time. 

The next step is to use the same frame of glass on a 
sash-covered forcing house, and of course the next is the 
forcing house constructed of large-sized glass, on the most 
advanced modern ideas. 

This little book will be divided into three parts. The 
first part will explain the several steps or stages by which 
the single sash, in a natural way, grows into the great glass 
structure which converts winter into summer. The second 
part will enumerate the more important winter crops, and 
give directions for their culture. The third part will be 
devoted to the winter crops of minor importance ; crops 



lo drekr's vegetables under glass. 

which in certain favored localities may become of major 
importance. 

The sash will always have its place in the economy of 
the garden ; a place which the forcing houses cannot fully 
supply. It is the duty of the sash to render small services 
to many people, while the forcing house renders large services 
to a few people. The sash is everybody's helper. 



I look upon the pleasure which we take in a garden as 
one of the most innocent delights of human life. — Addison. 



CHAPTER II. 



COIyD FRAMES, " BOXES " OR "STRINGS.' 



A cold frame is merely a glass-covered garden. The 
sides are of boards. The top is made of one or more mov- 
able sashes. The soil ought to be very rich. An ordinary- 
sash covers eighteen square feet of ground space, being 
about 6x3 feet in dimensions. Sashes seven or eight feet 
long can be obtained, arid are sometimes used, but the six- 
foot size is most convenient. 

Many plants perish from the effects of frost. Others, 
including both vegetables and flowers, are not injured by 
severe freezing. Their growth is checked, but their vitality 
is .not impaired. 

The function of the cold frame sash is to ward off cold 
winds, to keep the ground clear of snow, and in the spring to 
increase the feeble heat of the slanting sunbeams, and thus 
to foster plant growth. The ground will freeze solid in the 
cold frames in winter, but to a less depth than in the open 
garden. 

The construction of the cold frame or ' ' box ' ' is simple. 
For a single sash four boards are required, but for a range of 
sashes the necessary lumber is less in proportion. The sash 
can be bought from the seedsman ; the frame must be made 
by a carpenter, so as to accommodate the requisite number of 
sashes. 



n 



12 



dreer's vegetabIvEs under glass. 



In private gardens a more elaborate frame or "box " is 
usually made. In addition to the four boards absolutely 
demanded for the sides and ends a six-foot board is cut diag- 
onally, and used upon the sides, with a six-inch strip across 
the top. This provides for a six-inch pitch to the glass. The 
same frame, made deeper, is used for amateur hot beds. The 
market gardener, operating on a large scale, constructs his 
" boxes " more cheaply, as will be explained. 



A "Box." 




? >:<**-# '- i^ -^ i&* 




A Walk or Alley. A " Box." 

THE "boxes" at rest. 

The summer picture entitled, " The ' Boxes' at Rest," 
is from a photograph of the grounds of a Philadelphia mar- 
ket gardener. It shows how the boards are set and how 
supported. Ordinary inch boards, free from knots, are used. 
In the centre of the picture we look into a path or alley 
planted with radishes. The "boxes" on each side con- 
tain celery — a single row in each ' ' box ' ' or frame. The 
alley is about four feet wide ; the ' ' boxes ' ' or frames six 
feet wide, to be covered by six-foot sashes. The small posts 



drekr's vegetabi^ks under glass. 13 

with beveled tops supporting the upright boards are set in 
the walk or alley, in order to utilize every square inch of 
under- glass space in the bed. 

The gardener "rests" his frames in summer by strip- 
ping them of their glass and changing their crops. No idle 
days are allowed them. No weeds are permitted to grow 
in them. They must get along without any summer holi- 
days. Even the alleys are cropped. 

The picture shows how easy it is to work the ' * boxes ' ' 
and alleys by horse power. It is only necessary to remove 
the ends of the "boxes," and the horse may be driven 
through, as no cross bars are used, as was formerly the 
custom. 

In the spring the horse aids in preparing the ground for 
the open-air crops, and in the autumn in getting ready for 
winter. Of course the horse cannot be used in cultural oper- 
ations while crops are in the frames. 

It will be understood that the words ' ' frames ' ' and 
' ' boxes ' ' are synonymous. The Philadelphia market gar- 
dener employs the latter term. The Boston gardener calls 
them "strings." 

It is not uncommon for gardeners to take care of two or 
three thousand sashes. The Budlong people, near Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, operate ten thousand sashes. Miles 
of them ! And all are protected on the north side by high 
wooden fences. 

A Philadelphia Winter Garden. In the northern 
part of Philadelphia, on Richmond street, John Davis oper- 
ates about two thousand sashes. His "boxes" occupy 
a rectangular space which is wholly surrounded by a high 
board fence, which serves to break the force of the wind. 
His frames are built in the most simple manner ; simply two 
lines of boards set on their edges, one line being twelve 
inches high and the other six inches high. There is a six- 
foot connecting board at each end of the " box," of course. 



H 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 



This picture shows how Mr. Davis' sashes are stored 
for the summer. They are neatly piled up against one of the 
fences or wind breaks by which his ' ' boxes ' ' are surrounded, 
and are covered with lids (shutters) or boards as a protection 
against wind and hail. 




SUMMEE STOEAGE OF SASHES. 



Worthy of More Attention. The cold frame is 
worthy of much wider attention than it to-day enjoys. It is 
suited to the needs of the farmer, who seeks to add to his 
marketable products or to better his food supply. It is indis- 
pensable to the gardener, who must prolong his autumn 
cropping season and hasten the coming of spring. It is a 
way open and available to people who ' ' want to make a 
little money." It is a necessity to the flower lover, since it 
will carry so many things safely through the winter, to say 
nothing of its early spring violets, pansies and daisies. 

It will yield herbs and salads in variety in early spring, 
and hasten the starting of the summer crops. Few people. 



DREKR S VKGETABI^ES UNDER GLASS. 1 5 

indeed, have ever fully developed the possibilities of pleasure 
and profit possessed by an ordinary, glass-covered cold frame. 

Available Crops. The cold frame is adapted to quite 
a long list of hardy or half-hardy things, as will be hereafter 
discussed in more or less detail. Of the twenty-four * ' crops ' ' 
mentioned in this book all except seven are distinctly suited 
to cold-frame culture, and all of the exceptions (omitting 
mushrooms) may be started in the frames in the spring of 
the year, and hastened on their way toward maturity by the 
kindly influence of the glass. 

Requisites and Helps. In addition to the sash and 
the frame upon which it rests there are several requisites for 
success in cold frame operations. The soil of the bed must 
be of the right character ; rich, easily worked and well 
drained. Rotted sod is the best known basis for such a soil, 
and a big heap of sod ought, therefore, to be kept always on 
hand in a convenient place. Properly stacked up and made 
compact, such a heap will slowly decompose into soil of ideal 
fineness and quality. The heap ought to be once turned 
(a few months after it is made). It will need no further 
attention until wanted for use in the frames or for hot beds. 

The culturist need never be afraid of too much manure, 
provided it is well prepared ; that is, stacked, heated, turned 
and rotted down into a short, fine, sweet condition. In 
theory it is a loss to permit the ammonia of fermenting 
manure to escape into the air, but in practice it pays hand- 
somely to have manure that is at once available for plant 
food. It is better to lose a little ammonia than a great deal 
of precious time ; and it is well to remember that rotted 
manure is the best plant food known to the market gardeners, 
whose profits depend upon quickly grown crops. 

Wind Breaks. The gardener must not neglect to pro- 
vide a wind break. The owner of a small lot of sashes can 



1 6 DREER'S VEGETABI^ES under GIvASS. 

usually find a suitably sheltered place for theta on the south- 
ern side of buildings or shrubbery, but the extensive operator 
always builds a board fence to shield his glass from the north 
and west winds. See the remarks on this subject elsewhere, 
in connection with the cold frame culture of lettuce. To 
shut off the cold winds is an important matter. Do not 
neglect it. 

Change of Soii<. It is a matter of common observa- 
tion that new structures (frames and greenhouses) are usu- 
ally free from disease. This means that disease germs are 
not likely to be present in new and clean places. Hence, it 
is strongly advised that the soil of the cold frame, for a 
depth of several inches, be changed every year. We believe 
the labor and expense are warranted, whether there is dis- 
ease in the soil or not. There are expert operators, to be 
sure, who do not change the soil and who succeed. But mil- 
dew and other diseases are far more prevalent where the 
same soil is used year after year. Summer cultivation of the 
frames, in vogue among large operators, is the next best 
thing to changing the soil. 

Care of Frames in Winter. Instead of laying 
down fixed rules for the management of cold frames in win- 
ter it is deemed best to refer the reader to the chapter on 
lettuce culture, which treats the subject in a definite manner. 
The principal thing to bear in mind is that ventilation must 
be given every day during winter when the sun shines, and 
even in cloudy weather when the ground under the glass is 
unfrozen or likely to thaw. Over ventilation seldom does 
harm to hardy plants, while under ventilation is almost cer- 
tain to be followed by weakness and disease. 

A shutter made of light boards, called a "lid" by Phil- 
adelphia market gardeners, may be used at night upon 
sashes in winter if desired, but the shutter is more commonly 
employed in connection with hot bed work. For a design 



drkbr's vegetables under glass. 17 

for a good and cheap shutter or " lid " see the cover of this 
book, the illustration being made from a photograph. Use 
half-inch boards, including the cleats. 

It is not imperative to cover the sashes with shutters or 
mats at night during cold weather. Most large gardeners 
do not do so. Nevertheless, it will pay small operators to 
thus protect their frames, for the protection hastens spring 
growth. 

If free and regular ventilation be given to the winter 
crops the sashes may be removed in March and used for 
other purposes ; even for hot beds, if desired. Crops on 
which shutters have been used at night must not be exposed 
to the weather too early. 

Fall and Spring Management. The hoe may be 
used both spring and fall among the plants in the cold frames. 
A small bladed hoe is necessary for the purpose. Watering 
will be needed just after the plants are set out, and some- 
times in the spring, but not in mid-winter, though it is 
always good practice to strip the frames of their sashes 
during warm rains. 

Cold Frame ' ' Rotations. ' ' Here are four cold frame 
" rotations " practiced by Philadelphia market gardeners : 

Spinach, sowed about September 15, cut at Christmas ; 
radishes, sowed in February, pulled in April ; bush beans, 
sowed in April. 

Corn salad, sowed about September 15, cut at Christ- 
mas ; radishes, sowed in February, followed by beans. 

I^ettuce, sowed about September 15, cut in April and 
May, followed by beans. 

Spinach, sowed about September 15, cut at Christmas; 
lettuce (plants from the seed bed or seed) in February, fol- 
lowed, by beans. Beets are frequently sowed in February, 
and other crop arrangements are possible. 



1 8 dreer's vegetabi.es under glass. 

Seed Sowing in February. The working of soil 
under glass in February (without heat) is possible or impos- 
sible according to its quality. A stiff clay at that season of 
the year is certain to be wet, heavy and unfit for any kind 
of manipulation, while a well-drained, sandy soil (if not 
frozen) will be loose and friable. 

Philadelphia gardeners enjoy a mellow, sandy loam, 
containing some gravel, the natural soil favoring early spring 
operations under glass without artificial heat. 

In parts of the country where the soil is of a different 
nature, by reason of excess of clay, it is necessary to prepare 
beds and borders in advance, if early spring operations are 
contemplated. This can be done by drainage and by the use 
of sand, woods earth, rotted sod, well-rotted manure, &c., 
&c., worked up and incorporated so as to make a rich, light 
medium. Such a medium, when not actually frozen, is sure 
to be mellow. Litter may be employed as a mulch to pre- 
vent the deep freezing of ground not in use during January. 

Prices and Profits. On a large scale the gross 
annual receipts from each sash may be set down (under 
present prices) at $i to $2. 

On a basis of a half-dozen sashes it is probable that 
something like the following, per sash, could be done : 50 
heads of lettuce at 5 cents, retail, $2.50 ; cucumbers, started 
under glass, $1.00 ; beans or celery, 50 cents. Total $4.. 

Or, if violets or pansies are sown, larger results can be 
obtained, if near a market. Pansies potted and in bloom 
sell well in the early spring. Violets in cold frames will 
bloom delightfully in winter, especially as the days lengthen. 

The price of a so-called six-foot sash, glazed and painted, 
free on cars at Philadelphia, is now (1896) about $2.10. 
Anybody can figure out the cost of the boards needed to 
make a cold frame or hot bed. A six-foot sash, sometimes 
called a " three-by-six " sash, is 38 x 72 inches in size. 



CHAPTER III. 




THE HOT BED. 

The hot bed is 
merely a modified cold 
frame ; an improved 
cold frame ; a heated 
cold frame, if the con- 
tradiction be pardona- 
ble. The same pattern 
of sash is employed, 
but the board sides of 
the frame are either higher above ground or deeper below 
ground. Hot beds are not often made in long ranges like 
cold frames, as the forcing house is more economical for large 
operations, as will be explained hereafter. The hot bed will, 
however, always have a place in private gardens. 

It will be observed that the board sides of the hot bed 
are planned for depth ; for holding a considerable quantity of 
manure underneath the soil. It is sometimes recommended 
that the manure be two or two and a half feet deep : we 
believe that one foot of properly prepared manure, well 
tramped, is quite sufiicient. Thus, if we have one foot of 
manure, four inches of soil, and eight inches of air, the box 
must be made two feet deep. In filling the bed it is well to 
put in fifteen inches of manure, as it will speedily settle to 
twelve inches, and will leave just about enough air space 
under the glass. 

The hot bed is usually made ready in February or 
March, in the latitude of Philadelphia. It is well to sink 
the box into the earth for half its depth, and heap the earth 
up against the boards on the outside, as a protection against 
cold winds. Hot beds may be made up in December and 

19 



20 



DREER S VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS. 



Operated all winter, if desired ; but they require close atten- 
tion in the colder months. 

Preparation of Manure. Do not adopt the rough- 
and-ready plan of taking the manure direct from the stable 
or shed in cold weather. On the contrary, it is far better to 
collect the requisite amount and make it into a compact heap. 
Use the watering pot, so that it may be made uniformly 
damp, or even wet. Do not, however, make the heap soggy 
with water. In a few days an active fermentation will be in 
progress, when the heap should be turned, shaking out all 
lumps, working long straw into the centre of the new pile, 
and again using water, if necessary. 

The aim is to induce an active and uniform fermentation 
of the whole mass, and to make this fermentation so active 
that it will continue after the soil is put upon the bed. A 
well-made hot bed will maintain a regular soil warmth for 
weeks, while a poorly made bed will be warm in spots and 
cold elsewhere. 

We are aware that some gardeners take manure direct 
from the stables, and make a hot bed on short notice, putting 
on the soil almost immediately, and planting seeds without 
delay. Everybody knows that a pile of fresh manure will 
set up an active fermentaton, without any care or preparation 
whatever, and the expert gardener simply takes advantage 
of this fact. Still, the plan of carefully stacking and turning 
the manure, adding water if necessary, is a better and safer 
one for the amateur gardener. A cold, lifeless bed in mid- 
winter is not desirable, and hence the above advice. Care in 
detail does not cost much, and insures results. It is some 
trouble to make a hot bed properly, but it is the cheapest 
way in the end. 

Soil, Ventilation, &c. Use the same soil as for 
cold frames — clean, well-rotted sod. Pass it through a coarse 
screen, or trust to a fine rake, as you please. After tramping 
the prepared manure firmly in the hot bed, cover it with at 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 



21 



least four inches of soil, and put on the sashes. Place a 
thermometer in the bed, and await results. In the course of 
two or three days the beds may be trusted with seeds. The 
thermometer ought not to register much over 70° ; if the heat 
is greater it is better to delay matters for a few days. 

There is a possibility of burning the seeds by putting 
them too soon in a new hot bed, especially if the sun shines 
upon the closed sashes. The beds must be aired even before 




A SASH, A SHUTTER AND A GARDENER'S DAUGHTER. 

the young plants appear above ground. The seeds may rot 
in the ground if over-heated. It is necessary to air the beds 
slightly from the start, even in cool weather ; and to give 
more and more air as the plants increase in size and as the 
season advances. 

There ought to be a thermometer kept in the hot bed, 
and the day heat not allowed to get above 70 degrees. The 
night heat ought not to fall below 50 degrees. Shutters, 
mats, carpets or litter will make it easy to keep young plants 
warm at night. 



22 DRBKR'S VKGKTABI^ES under GIvASS. 

What may be Grown. There is scarcely a litait to 
hot bed possibilities in the way of starting plants in the early 
spring. Seeds of all the tender vegetables and flowers may 
be entrusted to the gentle heat of the hot bed soil in March ; 
and even in February, under proper care. The length of the 
March day, however, is much more conducive to plant growth 
than the earlier season, and for most purposes the March hot 
bed will be found quite sufficient in this latitude. March 15 
is early enough to sow the seeds of all the usual bedding 
plants and flowers, provided the glass is well managed. A 
quick growth is preferable, and this can be secured by sowing 
seed at this season, with its rapidly increasing daylight. 

Remember that to have all things in readiness to sow 
seeds March 15 the hot bed must be made up before that 
date. Preparations must begin in February, for it will 
require not less than two weeks in the winter time to get the 
manure in prime order. 

The Pleasure Op It. Aside from the profit of the 
hot bed (which is considerable) there is a keen pleasure to all 
real gardeners in thus calling the earth into activity before 
winter is over. Even the steaming manure is highly sug- 
gestive of healthy vegetable growth ; and after the manure 
has been hidden by the heavy coat of dark brown soil we 
have at our command a veritable spring garden, in which our 
choicest seeds may be trusted. 

The quick response of the seeds to the warmth and 
moisture, the bright green of the young plants, and their 
rapid growth from day to day, call for our admiration and 
make us rejoice, whether we are gardening for fun or for 
business. 

Important Details. After the seeds are well started 
they must be transplanted or pricked out, an operation 
necessary in all hot bed work, if we want best results. The 
young plants have grown too closely and too rapidly, to be 



drekr's vkgktabi^es under glass. 23 

strong. They must be taken from the seed rows, separated 
from each other, and replanted in suitable quarters. The 
hardy ones can go to the cold frames, while the more tender 
sorts must still have the gentle bottom heat of the hot bed. 
Some gardeners transplant even radishes, though others do 
not, saying that the practice makes too many fibrous roots. 

It is at transplanting time that the gardener wishes for 
expansion, for more sashes. He finds himself with a host of 
little plants, all demanding elbow room, and he sees that the 
coming of spring will create a market for just such healthy 
plants. The cropping season out-of-doors can be hastened by 
the use of well-started things like these, and the neighbors 
are certain to want plants for their gardens. 

It is the same with the flower seeds. The young plants 
ought to be reset in more ample quarters, so that they can 
have root expansion, and make a more hardy and stocky 
growth than was possible in the crowded seed row. 

The hot bed is the second step in the art of growing 
vegetables during twelve months of the year. Its economy, 
from a financial standpoint, is in working the frames to their 
fullest capacity, following one crop immediately with another. 

In the autumn, as heretofore intimated, we may if we 
please set the hot beds again to work in forcing winter 
crops, and may produce lettuce, radishes, &c., even in Janu- 
ary, at a time when high prices prevail. 



Handsome profits reward success in winter gardening. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE ' FIRE BED. 

There is a device or structure used in southern New 
Jersey to a limited extent (and perhaps elsewhere) known as 
the fire bed or hot air bed. Fire takes the place of ferment- 
ing manure, and yet it is difierent from a greenhouse. 

It is not in wide or general favor, but is well adapted to 
certain purposes, as for instance for starting sweet potato 
plants in early spring. 

The fire bed consists, essentially, of a broad bed of earth 
with fire beneath it, and with a covering of muslin or glass. 
A crosswise section of the bed is shown in the smaller cut 
and a lengthwise section in the large cut. The cuts, with a 
descriptive article, appeared in Farm Journal for March, 
1886. 





Ceoss Section", 



Lengthwise Section of 
FiEE Bed. 



The larger cut shows the relative position of the furnace 
to the bed. The ash pit is several feet below the natural 
surface of the ground. The front wall must be of brick or 
stone, but the wall at the opposite end of the bed may be of 
wood, if desired. There is an arch over the fire, and another 
over the hot air chamber, with earth above, as shown. The 
hot air flue, which is also the smoke flue, is carried grad- 

24 



drker's vegetables under glass. 25 

ually upward until it reaches the air space which is under 
the entire seed bed. Out of the open space beneath the bed, 
at the end opposite the fire, there is a square wooden chim- 
ney made of boards, which carries off the smoke and the 
other products of combustion. 

The arrangement of earth, as shown in the cut, prevents 
the heat in the seed bed from being excessive at the furnace 
end. The terra cotta or brick flue leading from the fire ter- 
minates several feet from the lower end of the wooden chim- 
ney, at a point perhaps fifty feet from the fire. 

The chimney is twelve to sixteen feet high, and the bed 
itself is say twelve feet wide and sixty feet long. For such 
a bed the furnace must be about four feet deep, two feet high 
and eighteen inches wide. An eight inch terra cotta flue 
would answer for such a furnace. 

The seed bed is supported by sleepers thrown across, 
four feet apart, on which boards are laid. The bed is a foot 
deep over the fire, and six or eight inches deep at the chim- 
ney end. 

The small cut shows the manner in which either glass or 
cloth may be used to cover the bed. 

Many such beds are to be seen on the New Jersey side 
of the Delaware river, not far south of Philadelphia ; but, as 
already stated, their use is confined to certain localities. 



The love of the thing : that is the key to success in any 
line of work. It is nowhere more true than in horticulture. 



CHAPTER V. 



FROM FRAME TO FORCING HOUSE. 

The next step upward in the art of winter gardening-, 
when cold frames and hot beds no longer fully meet the 
requirements of the cultivator, is the construction of a steam- 
heated or water-heated forcing house, using the same or 
similar sashes as those employed on the frames and hot beds. 

The advantage of the sash-covered house (as compared 
to frames) is that it enables the gardener to work under 




INTEEIOR VIEW OF LOUIS KEICHNER'S SASH-COVERED FORCING HOUSE, 
PHILADELPHIA, SHOWING CAULIFLOWER AND RADISH CROPS. 

cover ; that he can reach his plants without exposing them 
to the weather ; and that the temperature can be better con- 
trolled. The element of economy is also to be considered, for 
while the sashes will cover no more ground space on a forc- 
ing house than they formerly covered on the frames, yet a 
more rapid crop rotation can be secured by the greenhouse, 
as compared to the more primitive plan, and the gardener's 

26 



dreer's vegetabi.es under glass. 27 

time is used to better advantage, since there is no period of 
enforced idleness in the winter season, nor is time sacrificed 
in lifting and shifting the sashes, the shutters, &c. 

We present in this chapter several illustrations of the 
sash-covered forcing house — a most useful structure. Such 
a house is exactly adapted to the needs of the progressive 
gardener who has begun in a small way and who has accu- 
mulated a considerable number of sashes. It is the connect- 
ing link between the old way and the new way, and is now 
much used here and in New England. Methods everywhere 
are undergoing a rapid change. 

On some of the largest market farms near Boston will 
now (1896) be seen extensive sash-covered houses for forcing 
vegetables. The owners have been impressed by the better 
economy of the large greenhouse as compared with "strings" 
(cold frames), and have taken this method of turning to 
account their otherwise out-of-date glass. 

The several illustrations for this chapter are from photo- 
graphs of Philadelphia establishments, and are suited to the 
requirements of this latitude. 

By reference to the interior view of Mr. Reichner's house 
it will be seen how the sashes are laid on to form the roof. 
The construction of the house is also shown in part, and it is 
easy to realize that the glass roof can be wholly removed. 

The peak or highest part of the roof is not much more 
than six feet above the surface of the middle bed, and the 
"square" of the house is about two feet above the ground. 
The permanent glass sides in Mr. Reichner's house are 24 
inches high ; in Mr. Ksher's house 20 inches high. 

The beds are made directly upon the ground, three in 
number, separated by sunken walks, a little over a foot in 
width at the top, and a foot in depth. 

. I The soil of the beds is held in place by 

Bf/? \ w^i.f( \ s£9 boards, and the boards along the walks are 

1 I supported by iron braces, of the shape shown 



28 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 



in the cut. The brace is made of flat iron, stiff enough to 
support the strain upon it. Bach of its three parts is one 
foot in length, but its upper ends are fourteen inches apart. 

The economy of space secured by these sunken walks is 
obvious. In Mr. Ksher's house the distance from the bottom 
of the sunken walk to the sash above is 5 feet 5 inches, which 
requires a man to stoop slightly in going from place to place. 

The house being so low there is no loss of fuel in heat- 
ing it, and as there are no raised beds there is no staging to 
be kept in repair. 




SUMMER VIEW OF SASH-COVERED FORCING HOUSE OF JOHN C. ESHER, 
AT COLLINGSWOOD, N. J. 

The Construction. Mr. Esher has a number of sash- 
covered houses for forcing vegetables, all built upon the 
same general plan. A partial description of one of them will 
serve to illustrate how all are constructed. The picture will 
aid in giving an idea of the framework. 



drker's vkgetabi^ks undkr glass. 29 

As there are two rows of sashes on each side of the 
house there must be five lines of support, the peak or ridge 
piece serving for two lines of sashes. These five lines are 
permanent. The outer lines, forming the sides of the house, 
are of wood, resting upon wood, with glass below. The 
interior ones rest upon iron pipe posts, which are strong and 
yet light, occupying but little room. 

Each of the two hundred (or more) sashes required to 
cover one of Mr. Bsher's houses is 7 feet long by 35^ feet 
wide, glazed with 10 x 12 panes. 

Bach sash when on the house is held in place by two 
screw bolts. These bolts pass through the sash, take hold 
of the wood beneath easily, have square heads and can be 
removed with little trouble. 

Provision is made for ventilation by making every third 
sash of the upper row, on each side of the house, movable at 
its lower end. This admits fresh air immediately over the 
walks on both sides of the house. 

The joints of the sashes are covered with weather strips 
to keep out the cold, and along the peak of the entire roof 
where the sashes come together there is nailed a strip of felt 
or tarred paper, which effectually turns the rain and snow. 
The paper is tacked in place with circular tin roofing buttons. 

The VentiIvATOrs. Sometimes the sash to be used for 
a ventilator is simply hinged to the opposite sash, at the 
upper end. This permits the lower end of the sash to be 
raised at pleasure. Mr. Hsher has what he thinks is a better 
plan. He takes two pieces of hoop iron, each a foot in 
length. In each piece five holes are drilled. Through the 
middle of each piece a six-inch wood bolt is passed, and 
driven part way into the top of the ridge piece of the green- 
house. 

In summer time, when the houses are not in use, these 
bits of hoop iron still remain in pairs (a sash's width apart) 



30 



dreer's vegetabi.es under glass. 



on the top of the ridge piece. In the autumn, when the 
sashes are put on, the opposing sashes come together at 
these points, and wood screws (screw bolts) fasten the hoop 
iron strips to the styles (wooden bars forming the sides of the 
sash). Hence, upon completion of the work, each venti- 
lating sash is held in place at the upper end by two strips of 
hoop iron (instead of hinges). This thin iron is flexible, and 
is in all respects as good as a hinge, and does not rust out 
like a hinge. The lower end of the sash is lifted exactly as 
in the case where hinges are UvSed. The ends of the styles, 
at the top, are beveled, so as to make the opposing sashes fit 
closely together. 




LOUIS ilEICHNER'S FORCING HOUSE. 

A further illustration of how the movable sashes are set 
on the framework of the house is shown in the summer-time 
picture of one of Louis Reichner's houses, at Belmont avenue 
and Ford road, Philadelphia. 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 31 

A great advantage of such houses as these, in addition 
to points already noted, is the ease with which they can be 
thrown open to the w^eather' in summer. Mr. Esher, for 
instance, grew a crop of celery (close planted so as to be self- 
bleaching) in the beds of his forcing house during the sum- 
mer of 1896 ; and another user of such a house testifies that 
stripping the house of its glass in the summer makes it safe 
to employ the same soil for at least two years, whereas in 
a near-b}^ house that is permanently covered with glass he 
finds it necessary to change the soil every year in order to 
escape disease. 

The two gardeners referred to in this chapter (Messrs. 
Esher and Reichner) are both located within convenient reach 
of the great wholesale markets of Philadelphia. Their prin- 
cipal crops are radishes, lettuce, cauliflower, beets, water 
cress, mint, &c. They also grow rhubarb in the winter sea- 
son, but in greenhouses of a different pattern, having plat- 
forms or staging under which the rhubarb roots are placed. 

The Succession of Crops. In the sash-covered forc- 
ing houses just described the winter's work begins in Sep- 
tember, from the 15th to the 20th, before the glass is put on. 
The beds are made ready and sowed with Cardinal Globe 
and White Box radish. Lettuce seed is started in an oulside 
bed, and brought into the houses later. Water Cress (Dreer's 
Erfurt) is sowed in October, and Snow Storm cauliflower 
about the first of November. 

For cultural directions concerning these and other win- 
ter vegetables the reader is referred to the subsequent pages 
of this book, where each is briefly treated under its respec- 
tive name. 

Mr. Esher' s main reliance is the radish, of which he 
expects three crops always, and sometimes gets four crops. 

Houses of this description are particularly adapted to the 
radish, lettuce, beet and cauliflower, and are recommended 
to gardeners whose markets demand any of these crops. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THK GREAT MODERN FORCING HOUSES. 

There are but few larger glass houses in the world than 
the one-acre structures at the Dreer grounds, at Riverton, 
New Jersey, and it is, therefore, not out of place for a book 
with the Dreer imprint to speak with some authority upon 
methods of turning winter into summer. 

These glass houses at Riverton, however, are not used for 
the commercial production of winter vegetables, and so we 




VEGETABLE FOECING HOUSES OF W. L. ALLEN, AT ARLINGTON, 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

have looked towards Boston for types of the best and largest 
American forcing houses, and for the best methods of growing 
vegetables for market in the winter season. 

It is one thing to grow things under glass, regardless of 
cost, and another to show a clear and satisfactory balance of 
receipts above expenses. The Yankee grows vegetables on 
business principles, rather than for sentiment or luxury, and 
as his houses are among the best to be found in this country 
we have turned our camera in his direction. 

32 



drker's vegetables under glass. 33 

A Pennsylvania or New Jersey trucker, visiting New 
England, is surprised at the number and size of the vegeta- 
ble forcing houses to be seen at Arlington, Belmont and 
other suburbs of Boston, near Providence, Rhode Island, and 
elsewhere. The largest of the Rawson greenhouses, at Ar- 
lington, attains to the great size of 50 bj^ 400 feet, with panes 
of glass 20 by 30 inches in dimensions. 

Many establishments in the same neighborhood have 
houses almost as extensive. John S. Crosby, William H. 
Allen, D. ly. Tappan and others have very large under-glass 




SMALL DOORS IN NORTH SIDE OF BOSTON FORCING HOUSE. 

establishments at Arlington ; and the Hittinger Brothers, at 
Belmont, have a place that is a model in all recent green- 
house appliances. These people and their neighbors grow 
acres of lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, &c., in the winter time 
and exchange their products for bank accounts. 

The illustrations show the general plan of construction 
of the New England vegetable greenhouse. The beds are 
made upon the ground, and the soil (in most of the houses) 
is changed or ' ' shifted ' ' every year, wholly or in part. The 
method of using the forcing house to best advantage, in point 



34 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 



of economy of time, is explained in the chapters on lettuce 
and cucumbers. 

A great help in the matter of changing the soil of these 
great houses is the small door on the north side of the house, 
as herewith shown. A line of these doors extends from end 
to end of the forcing house, being cut through the double 
wall of boards on the cold side of the building. The doors 
are, of course, permanently closed during the winter. 




GLASS DOOKS OR VENTILATORS, NEAR GROUND, ON WARM SIDE OF 
BOSTON FORCING HOUSE. 

On the southern side of the house, below the * ' square ' ' 
or pitch of glass, a number of glass doors or ventilators are 
placed. These doors or glass windows swing outward, being 
hinged on their upper edges, and are used during any time 
of the year, whenever required by the temperature of the 
house. These ventilators, in connection with others at the 
peak of the glass roof, aid in producing a perfect circulation 
of air above the plants growing in the beds. The ventilating 



DREKR'S VKGKTABLES under GI.ASS. 35 

glass window, on the south side of the house, is frequently 
hinged on the lower edge, and made to swing inward. 

The first cost of the modern forcing house is not as great 
as formerly, though it is still considerable. Its use is fully 
warranted for commercial operations, and it is likely to 
become increasingly common in all parts of the country. 



Winter gardening throughout the United States must 
increase under to-day's conditions. The under-glass crops 
are all ' ' money crops. ' ' 



CHAPTER VII. 



A WINTER WORK ROOM. 




Here is a suggestion for a 
winter work room ; a place for 
doing all the laborious details of 
' ' getting ready for market. ' ' It 
is from one of our 1896 note books, 
and is an almost exact copy of the 
" wash room " of John S. Crosby, 
of Arlington, Massachusetts. Mr. 
Crosby is entitled to the merit of 
its simple and convenient details. 
Everybody in the market 
gardening business knows the 
vast amount of labor involved in washing, bunching and 
preparing stuff for market at all seasons of the year, and 
that this work in winter is often painfully cold and altogether 
disagreeable. 

The above work room or ' ' wash room " is a model of 
comfort and convenience, and its best feature is its simplicity. 
It is not expensively built, yet every detail seems perfect. 

Numerous windows admit light by day, and electricity 
furnishes illumination by night. The boiler and its pipes 
keep the place comfortably warm. 

The floor of the wash room, which is of cement, is raised 
say two feet above the level of the ground outside the 
building. 

Earge doors open for the reception of the market wagon, 
which stands below the level of the wash room floor. The 
doors close with the wagon on the inside. 

36 



drker's vegetables under glass. 37 

The washing trough (about 4 by lo feet in size) is divided 
in the middle, so that one portion can be emptied while the 
other is full of water. The water is drawn directly from 
spigots, and escapes immediately under the washing box. 
The floor slopes so that all drainage is toward this spot. 

In one corner there is a wooden platform, raised a few 
inches, for the storage of crates, boxes and baskets. The 
tables for bunching can be placed in the centre of the room 
or in any other desired position. Stairs lead to an over-head 
apartment, as shown in the left of the cut. 

This wash room, as intimated above, has the charm of 
cheerfulness. It is built on business lines for business pur- 
poses, and is calculated to rid the gardener's business of the 
unpleasant winter work of former days. It will be noticed 
that the market wagon can be loaded in the same apartment 
in which all the work of washing and tying is done ; and, if 
necessary, the wagon can be safely locked up in this place 

at night. 

Its well graded cement floor and the arrangement for 
bringing in the market wagon are especially worthy of notice. 
The stuff to be made ready for sale can be brought into the 
room from the front or the rear, as may be most convenient, 
as there is a door on each side of the building. 



American horticulture has reached a stage where profits 
depend upon doing things well. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BORDER WORK AND IRRIGATION. 

It is rather difficult to define the meaning of the word 
' ' border, ' ' as used by American gardeners, since the term is 
somewhat elastic in its application. 

In general it may be said to mean any small piece of 
ground exposed to the air and sun which is not a part of the 
open field. It is not glass-covered, and it is usually sheltered 
by a building, fence, wall or hedge, so that it cannot be 
swept by cold winds. The north and west are the direc- 
tions from whence come the cold, drying winds of February 
and March ; winds which cause so much destruction to the 
canes of raspberries, blackberries and the like, and which 
are really more hostile to vegetable life than severe cold itself. 

A border, therefore, may be described as a piece of warm, 
sheltered, out-of-doors soil. The richer the soil the better 
for its purpose. It may be so small as to be worked with 
the spade, or so large as to require the plow. 

The ordinary border is merely a small, warm, sunny bit 
of rich, dark mould, which dries off quickly in spring by 
reason of its location, its good drainage, and its exposure to 
the sun. 

On the other hand, we see some quite extensive borders 
in the fence protected enclosures of the large market gardeners. 
- Border work is so intimately associated with under glass 
operations that the subject must be mentioned in this little 
book. Part of the work of the cold frame and most of the 
work of the ordinary hot bed is done with a view to spring 
operations in the open air ; and as every day in early spring 
counts for so much it is necessary to join the glass work and 
the open air work as closely as possible. The border is the 
connecting link. 

38 



drebr's vegetables under glass. 39 

In addition to its spring-time usefulness the border ought 
to carry many things safely through the winter months, 
the plants being protected only by straw, salt hay or other 
litter. Lettuce plants will go through the winter without 
harm. Onions planted in October will yield early shoots or 
" scullions." Spinach will be ready for the earliest market ; 
it can be cut, in fact, all winter, during mild days. And 
there are many other purposes for which the border is pecu- 
liarly adapted. Of course this part of the garden is to be as 
rich as well-rotted manure will make it. A two-inch coat of 
manure ought to be dug under previous to every crop, and a 
complete fertilizer also used as a stimulant of rapid growth. 

This excessive manuring is entirely safe where plenty of 
water can be used. And thus we come to consider the sub- 
ject of irrigation. 

The border must be frequently and thoroughly watered 
in the spring of the year. It must be planted to its utmost 
capacity, cultivated to perfection with hand hoe or wheel hoe, 
and worked in all respects as intensely as the hot bed itself. 
The border offers opportunity for the most concentrated forms 
of out-of-doors gardening. 

Irrigation of Borders. To take well-started plants 
of beets, lettuce, &c., out of the frames in the early spring, 
or to sow seeds of radish or other early market crops in the 
open border, and then to have all plans frustrated by drying 
winds or prolonged drought is neither satisfactory nor profit- 
able. There are crops indeed (cauliflower, for instance) 
which resent any interruption in their growth, and which 
never fully recover from injury sustained in transplanting 

into dry soil. 

It is hence necessary to be prepared to irrigate the border ; 
and the more thoroughly the work is done the better. On a 
small scale the watering pot will answer, but on a large scale 
a rubber hose pipe is mostly employed by market gardeners. 



40 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 



We here present a picture of a cheap, practical and 
effective scheme for watering an extensive plat or border. 
The picture is drawn from a photograph made on the large, 
well-kept place of the Messrs. Hittinger Brothers, at Bel- 
mont, Massachusetts. 




The essential feature of the scheme is an elevated two- 
inch central pipe, running the length of the plat. It is held 
up by iron posts made of pipe. A horse can pass under the 
main horizontal supply pipe. The water pressure is 25 lbs. 
to the square inch. At points say 18 feet apart cross pipes 
extending twelve feet in both directions are inserted, as 
shown in the picture. At the end of each lateral pipe is an 
umbrella (revolving) sprinkler. The weight of the sprinkler 
and small lateral pipe is supported by a wooden stake or pole. 

At the Hittinger establishment this scheme of irrigation 
covers about an acre of ground. Sixty sprinklers are 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 41 

employed, and are all run at the same time. The time 
required to give the ground a thorough soaking is about 
thirty minutes. The amount of water used in that time is 
about 15,000 gallons. 

The cost of this system of irrigation is not great. The 
whole acre of ground thus supplied with moisture is made 
productive up to its fullest capacity, no matter how dry the 
weather may be in early spring. 

Lying immediately on the warm side of a great vegetable 
forcing house (partly shown in the picture), with deep, rich, 
mellow soil, this border was the largest and most successful 
thing of the kind noted in our 1896 observations. 

The economy of construction, the uniform way in which 
the water is applied to every portion of the ground, and the 
ease with which it is managed, are the principal points in its 
favor. 

No matter how careful a man may be with hose or 
watering pot, he will give some parts of the ground more 
water than other parts ; but a mechanical sprinkler, operating 
uniformly at many points, will almost equal the clouds them- 
selves in the even distribution of steadily falling drops of 
water. 

The supply of water for such a system of irrigation may 
come from a tank, from a force-pump, or from a street main. 
The plan is feasible and economical, and tends to reduce out- 
of-doors gardening to an exact science. 



The possibilities of pleasure in winter work under glass 
are as great as the possibilities of profit. 



CHAPTER IX. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES. 

This little book is so entirely elementary that we can 
give only one brief piece of advice about plant diseases, and 
that is to have none of them. 

Disease seldom or never troubles plants set in fresh soil 
in new frames or new houses, and this is one reason why 
beginners so often have "good luck" at the outset, to be 
followed by "bad luck" in later years. Of course there is 
in reality no ' ' luck ' ' about it. The beginner works with 
wholesome surroundings. 

The disease called "damping off," which affects many 
under-glass crops, is supposed to be of fungous character. 
It mostly results from bad air. Free ventilation and cleanli- 
ness will usually prevent it ; though it sometimes troubles 
plants in the open air. It is especially common in old frames 
or hot beds, near decaying boards, and in soil that has been 
previously used. Its prevention is possible, in the way indi- 
cated, but the death of the plant is sometimes our first notice 
of its presence in the bed. 

' ' Burning ' ' of lettuce is also supposed to be a fungous 
disease, the result of improper management. The lettuce 
decays at the heart, and is rendered worthless. Fresh soil is 
the best remedy, if other conditions (including ventilation) 
are not at fault. 

Aphides, or plant lice, can be destroyed with tobacco 
smoke or tobacco water, though it is sometimes difficult to 
kill these insets on the under side of lettuce leaves. It is 
well to see that the seedling plants (when transplanted) are 
free from the insects. Tobacco stems may be used among 
the lettuce plants. 

42 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 43 

In discussing this question an English authority of the 
present year (Carter's Practical Gardener, I^ondon, 1896) says 
it is surprising what a great insect-enemy pure water is ; but 
if this fails resource must be had to something stronger. 
Three or four ounces of soft soap dissolved in a gallon of 
water, and half a pint of tobacco liquor added, will kill all 
ordinary insects, especially if the plants are syringed with 
it at a temperature of about 120°, or dipped in it. It will 
not injure the plants. 

Maggots trouble some cold frame vegetables, especially 
radishes, onions, etc. Powdered copperas sprinkled over the 
beds, before planting, is mentioned by Professor L. H. Bailey 
as a preventive. Carter's Practical Gardener (I^ondon, 1896) 
recommends gardeners ' ' to strew sufficient fresh soot over 
the ground to discolor it, before drawing the drills for recep- 
tion of the seed." 

There are many fungous diseases which the gardener 
must combat, but let it be remembered that all the parasitic 
fungi prey upon vegetation which is not quite up to its 
greatest vigor. Under proper cultivation, watering and 
ventilation, the chances are always on the side of the plant 
or vegetable. It is in the gardener's neglect of the requisites 
for the growth of his plants that the fungus enemy finds its 
opportunity and gets in its evil work. 

Of all the avenues of failure bad ventilation is probably 
the one that causes most trouble ; and unwholesome soil the 
next in evil effects. 

It is advised that thorough cleanliness be observed ; 
that the sashes be washed or painted every year ; that the 
unpainted wood work of the frames be renewed before decay 
sets in ; and that the same soil be not long used in any 
structure (frame or greenhouse) from which the fresh air is 
permanently excluded. 

To follow this advice literally may not in all cases be 
possible, but we may remind our readers that perfect cleanli- 



44 DREKR'S VKGETABLES under GIvASS. 

ness and perfect plant health are very closely associated. 
Nature has assigned to the fungi the dut)^ of watching perpet- 
ually for cases of disobedience of health rules, and every 
plant which suffers any loss of constitutional vigor is at once 
attacked and destroyed. The careless gardener is thus taught 
what practices to avoid in future operations. 

We believe that old wood and old soil are almost certain 
to produce ' ' damping off ' ' of plants, even under what may 
be termed good management ; and a mushroom house where 
the boards are decayed is quite sure to produce unsound 
mushrooms. In the latter case we have an instance of a 
fungus preying upon a fungus. Perpetual motion vSeems to 
be nature's law. When a plant ceases to grow it is destroyed. 



Work the lazy garden. You pay rent for it all winter, 
do you not ? Make it earn dividends every month of the 
year. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE PLANTING OF THE SEED. 

Seed planting in winter is quite the same operation as in 
summer, and the same rule holds good, to wit : the smaller 
the seed the nearer the surface. Many seeds are perfectly- 
hardy, while others lose their vitality when sown in cold or 
wet soil. In the modern greenhouse seeds may be planted 
in mid-winter, or at any other season of the year. 

lyCttuce, radish, cauliflower, beet, water cress, &c., may 
be sown (with heat) whenever it suits the convenience of the 
gardener, at intervals through the winter ; and there are no 
rigidly fixed dates for planting the seeds of beans or melons. 

Tomatoes and cucumbers, being crops of prominence 
and of long duration, are started, we may say, in mid-sum- 
mer, and again near mid-winter. 

Parsley, spinach, carrot, cabbage, corn salad, endive and 
pansy have fixed planting dates, to meet special markets. 

Mushrooms are grown from spawn (to be had of the 
seedsmen). Onions are mostly raised from bulbs, except 
where the seed is sown in spring under glass for transplanting 
to the outside beds. Potatoes are multiplied exclusively 
from tubers. 

Asparagus, rhubarb, daisy, mint, and violets are grown 
from roots for the most part. 

Another classification of the winter crops enumerated in 
this book may be made as follows : 

Grown without heat : Spinach, cabbage plants for spring, 
-corn salad, endive, onion, daisy, pansy, violet. Grown with 
heat : Tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, beans, melon, mush- 
rooms, potato. Grown both ways : Lettuce, radish, parsley, 
beets, water cress, carrots, rhubarb, asparagus, mint. 

The starting point, in all cases, is in reliable seeds, 
roots, &c. The planting of the seeds and their subsequent 
care is a matter requiring intelligent and continued effort. 

45 



PART II. 



THE UNDER-GI.ASS STAPLES. 



Lettuce, Cucumber, 

Radish, Tomato. 

•"or the second part of our little book on the culture of 
winter vegetables we have selected four crops which are so 
largely grown, and grown in so many places, that they may 
be termed the leading under-glass staples. These four crops 
will be treated more in detail than those mentioned in Part 
III ; albeit in some localities the things which in this book 
are treated as minor crops will loom up into primary import- 
ance, and will take their places as the principal money 
makers. The four crops here brought forward must, how- 
ever, be recognized as the leaders in the eastern part of the 
United States at the present time. 

CHAPTER XI. 




LETTUCE. 
Lettuce must be regarded as the most important of all 
the under-glass crops, and it is now in demand during every 

46 



drkkr's vegetabIvKS under glass. 47 

one of the twelve months of the year. It is necessary to grow 
different kinds of lettuce at different seasons, but otherwise 
the succession of seed time and harvest is unbroken. The 
tribe is a hardy one throughout, and yet there are kinds which 
bear more freezing thati others, while, on the contrary, there 
are varieties which are quite able to withstand the scorching 
effects of summer heat. The request for crisp, well-grown 
lettuce is now answered in the markets from January to Jan- 
uary. 

There are at least five distinct methods of lettuce cul- 
ture practiced by market gardeners, which will be briefly 
described. These five methods may be called ridge culture, 
cold frame culture, hot bed culture, forcing house culture 
and open air culture. 

Ridge Culture. Ridge culture begins with the sowing 
of the seed in the open ground in September. The broad- 
cast method is commonly employed, and no great care is 
exercised, since the object is merely to obtain strong plants 
in October or early November. The precaution must be 
taken to " firm " the seed in the soil at planting time, as the 
weather in September is often dry, and if the soil is not 
pressed closely about the seeds there may be delay in germi- 
nation. Lettuce seed as a rule starts quickly into growth. 

Late in October the young plants are ready for the 
ridges, which are made by running a plow in both directions 
in furrows twenty inches or two feet apart. The top of the 
intervening furrow is smoothed with a hand rake, and a row 
of lettuce plants, eight inches apart, is set on the south side 
of the ridge. Sometimes another row is set on the north side 
of the ridge also. It is as the gardener may determine by 
experience. The single southern row, as a rule, seems to be 
more satisfactory. 

The hardy nature of the lettuce plant enables it to strike 
root before the coming of severe freezing weather, and after 



48 drekr's vegetables under glass. 

the roots have started to grow the plants are comparatively- 
safe from injury. They need to be protected with salt hay 
or straw during the mid- winter months, beginning in Decem- 
ber, and allowing the protection to remain on the plants until 
March. In spring the covering is removed, the soil stirred 
with a hoe, and the lettuce plants made ready for heading, 
an end which they accomplish in April or early May, 

The ridge system has been and still is extensively fol- 
lowed by Philadelphia market gardeners, though the tend- 
ency is toward the quicker results secured by under-glass 
methods. The object of the ridge is to get good drainage 
and a kindly exposure to the sun's rays, and these ends may 
be secured in almost any garden without much trouble or 
expense. 

The open-air seed bed of the autumn, in which the seed 
was dropped September 15, will usually carry its plants 
unharmed through the winter, if protected with straw or 
litter. The young plants from such a bed can be used for 
mid-winter forcing or for spring planting if desired. The 
advantage of the ridges, with their autumn-set plants, is 
merely in the fact that they save time. The earliest warm 
days start the plants to growing. 

Cold Frame Culture. The next simplest way to 
grow lettuce is in cold frames or "boxes." There is no arti- 
ficial heat of any kind ; no bottom heat furnished by manure. 
The glass protects the plants against wind and snow, and 
also fosters growth to some extent even in winter time. But 
during the months of December, January and February the 
lettuce plants do little more than hold their own. Yet all 
the time (except during excessive cold) they are adding 
strength to their roots ; and this is not strange when we 
observe the persistence with which chickweed and other 
hardy plants grow in the cold frames during the winter 
months, and the apparent ease with which violets come into 



DREER'S vegetables under GI.ASS. 49 

bloom in the same situation while winter still holds the out- 
side world. Plants appear to be dormant during winter, but 
for all that many of them are actively at work, especially in 
their underground portions. 

Cold frame lettuce plants are commonly taken in October 
from the out-of-doors seed bed sown September 15. They 
are set in the sash at various distances apart, or from 
seven to ten inches. The old way, still followed by some 
gardeners, is to put fifty plants under each sash. A system 
now in vogue at Philadelphia is to plant eight by nine inches 
apart. This allows for thirty-eight plants to the sash. This 
is for large lettuce, the price of which warrants the extra 
space allotted to it. 

This handy marker for frames and borders can be made 

r " o ■ I by anj^body in a few minutes. 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Cut it from a piece of one-inch 
board, 35 inches long and 4 inches wide. Bore a hole for 
a rake handle, allowing for slant. Make the distance 
between the points exactly eight inches. 

lyCttuce seed may be sowed in frames in February for 
early spring plants. The beds are put in order, made 
smooth, struck out in both directions with a marker, and a 
few lettuce seeds dropped at every ' ' hill ' ' or crossing point 
of the lines. After the lettuce has made a little growth all 
the plants except one are removed. This method is em- 
ployed at a season (in early spring) when the ground is 
so cold that transplanting is difficult. As a rule, however, 
we would recommend transplanting wherever possible, as it 
always favors root development and better subsequent growth. 

The winter treatment of cold frame lettuce is simple. 
Air is given during the day and the sashes are closed at 
night. This is the practice of the market gardeners. The 
sashes must not be kept closed during the day when the 
ground under them is thawed or likely to thaw. Moisture 
under a sash will produce foul air and disease. Only when 



50 drkkr's vkgetabi.es under glass. 

the mercury is very low is it safe to allow the sashes to 
remain closed during the day time, and even then it is a dan- 
gerous thing to do if the sun shines on the glass. Free ven- 
tilation is the safe rule. Snow must be removed and the 
walks or alleys between the ranges of glass kept open, so 
that the beds can be properly examined every day. 

Watering the cold frames is not necessary in winter 
time, and but seldom in the early spring. 

The Philadelphia truckers and market gardeners do not, 
as a rule, cover their cold frames at night with "lids" 
(shutters) or mats. Private gardeners and amateurs, on the 
other hand, will find it to their advantage to do so. It 
hastens the maturity of the lettuce and several days can be 
gained in the crop. 

The Philadelphia cultivators are, however, careful to 
build high board fences on the north and northwest sides of 
their glass to keep off the cold winds ; and this plan is 
worthy of imitation. Indeed, it is essential to success. The 
height of four or five boards is sufficient here. New Yorkers 
use six boards, and the Boston "market farmers" employ 
seven boards (laid sidewise) in the construction of their 
screens or wind breaks. The Boston men, indeed, build a 
wind fence for each row or * * string ' ' of frames. For in- 
stance, they put up a seven-foot fence (seven boards), lean- 
ing toward the north. At its base, on the sunny side, they 
set the cold frames, or "boxes," or "strings." Then they 
allow a considerable space (perhaps forty feet) before build- 
ing another fence so that the shadow may not fall upon the 
glass in the rear. Many of these wind fences or breaks are 
yet to be seen in New England, and still have their uses, 
although the Yankee lettuce growers for the most part seem 
to have equipped themselves with forcing houses. 

Hot Bed Culture of IvETTuce. The hot bed culture 
of lettuce is not very widely practiced on a commercial scale 



DREKR'S VEGETABI^KS under GI.ASS. 51 

in the vicinity of Philadelphia, but is well suited to the needs 
of small gardeners and amateurs in this latitude. The large 
grower of to-day must have a forcing house, but the small 
grower can do well with a few sashes, getting the necessary 
heat from an underground bed of fermenting manure. For 
the preparation of hot beds the reader is referred to the 
chapter on that subject. 

The hot bed for lettuce culture can be made ready in the 
fall, or at any time during the winter. If lettuce is to be 
forced during the severe weather of January and February 
there must be a greater depth of manure employed in the 
construction of the bed than where it is made up in March 
simply for starting the seeds of bedding plants. 

A depth of two feet of manure is none too much for a 
mid-winter bed for forcing lettuce. A temperature of from 
50° to 65° is desirable; and fresh air must be given in the 
day time, even in cold weather. 

Plants can be had from the out-of-doors seed bed, or 
from seedling plants in the cold frames. Such plants respond 
quickly to the genial bottom-heat of the hot bed, and are 
stimulated rather than stunted by the cool air which reaches 
them from above when the sashes are raised. 

The only reason market gardeners do not use hot beds 
is that they find a better economy in forcing houses ; but 
the hot bed is well suited to amateurs or small gardeners, as 
already stated, and the bed can be employed for a second 
crop of lettuce if worked to good advantage. That is, it is 
possible to take well-grown plants from the seed beds (or, 
preferably, once transplanted), and quickly force them into 
head in a winter hot bed. Then, by having other well-grown 
plants available, a second crop can be brought forward in the 
same bed before it has lost all of its bottom heat. 

Forcing House Culture. The forcing house plan is 
simply the hot bed system developed on broad lines, but it has 



52 DRKER'S vegetables under GIvASS. 

gone so far and become so famous that it must be separately- 
classified. It is the hot bed system with the manure replaced 
by hot water or steam, and with the movable sashes replaced 
by great glass structures of which nobody dreamed a gener- 
ation ago. 

lyCttuce is pre-eminently the most profitable of the forc- 
ing house crops, though other popular vegetables and fruits 
are now rapidly coming into favor. It is lettuce, however, 
to which the greatest winter acreage is given. Two crops of 
lettuce are always grown and sometimes three crops, and the 
glass then goes to cucumbers, tomatoes, &c. But lettuce has 
first place, as will be described in the paragraphs about 
Boston methods. 

Open Air Culture. The fifth of the great methods 
of lettuce culture, the out-of-doors way, is not within the 
range of this little book. In passing, it may be well to say 
that lettuce may go into the open ground as soon as the soil 
can be worked. Young plants ought to be ready in the 
earliest spring, from seed sown in frames or from wintered- 
over plants. 

If the plants are set out or sowed in the open ground in 
rows ten inches apart, and allowed to stand eight inches apart 
in the rows, there will be room for all the necessary cultural 
operations and for the subsequent development of the heads. 
The richest and mellowest soil is demanded for successful let- 
tuce culture, whether under glass or in the open air. 

Varieties. The varieties of lettuce in favor among 
gardeners at this time are very numerous, and we can 
merely give a few suggestions. Much depends upon soil and 
situation. 

For ridge culture in the neighborhood of Philadelphia 
the sort that is most widely popular is the Early White Cab- 
bage or White Butter. It is almost entirely hardy. Early 



DREKR'S vegetables under GI.ASS. 53 

Dutch Butter Spotted is most used in cold frames. Big 
Boston is also used for frames. Hittingers' Belmont Forcing 
is to be highly recommended for hot beds, forcing houses, 
&c. ; and Silver Ball has a record almost equally good. The 
latter is also a good lettuce for open-air culture. 

The Market, There is an ever-increasing demand for 
good lettuce. Every city, town and hamlet in the land is a 
lettuce market. The demand will never cease ; in fact, 
it is likely to grow larger every year for many years to 
come. We may therefore conclude that there will always 
be "money" in the crop for those acquainted with the best 
cultural methods. 

Lettuce can be transported from place to place. It is a 
good shipper, especially in the cooler months of the year. 
But it is, after all, a perishable crop, which cannot be held 
long or stored in any great quantities. It is, moreover, best 
for table purposes when perfectl}^ fresh. For these reasons 
the small grower of lettuce will never be driven to the wall 
by his greater competitor. He will always find a market 
open to him. 

Lettuce Culture at Boston. The lettuce growers 
near Boston have achieved such wide renown on account of 
their skill, and because their product stands so high in the 
market, that it is well to look into their methods. Many an 
envious Pennsylvanian or Jerseyman has wished for the 
secret of "the Boston way" of growing lettuce, and more 
than one attempt has been made to learn the trade secrets of 
the Yankee gardeners. 

Our own behef is that the New England people have no 
"trade secrets," but rather that they succeed through the 
excellent execution of methods already widely known. They 
are aided, it is true, by a cool, moist climate, and a soil that 
can be made perfect by the use of manure. They are also 
blessed in being near to good home markets. 



54 DREER'S VEGETABI^BS under GLASvS. 

But, after all, the real success of the New England gar- 
dener depends on his management of details. Nothing is too 
much trouble for him, and he cannot get appliances that are 
too good for him. We will presently explain the careful 
details of some of his processes ; and as to his glass houses, 
they are as large and as well equipped, probably, as any in 
the world. 

Let it not be imagined, however, that the business is 
without its drawbacks, even on the coast of Massachusetts 
Bay, for the Dreer note books have records (made in 1896) 
of mildew and ' ' burn ' ' ; and one Down-East gardener was 
inclined to believe that Jersey had excelled Massachusetts in 
her lettuce products in the New York markets during the 
previous winter. There may be a bit of comfort to Jersey 
truckers in this comment, for it goes to show a recognition 
of the good quality of Jersey lettuce. 

The Boston lettuce grower begins operations in his forc- 
ing house in autumn on the following general plan. He first 
prepares the beds by digging into them about three inches of 
well-rotted horse manure. The beds are all upon the ground 
(not on staging), and this amount of manure can be incorpo- 
rated with the soil without much trouble. No artificial fer- 
tilizer is used in the houses. (The date of beginning opera- 
tions seems to be changing, with a tendency to get started 
a little earlier each year.) 

Six weeks before the young plants are needed for the 
forcing house the lettuce seed is sown in an out-of-doors bed — 
in a bed containing no manure whatever. This is to get 
plants wholly free from the germs of mildew. This is a 
point of great importance. 

The young plants, once transplanted (3 inches each 
way), are thus strong, stocky and perfectly healthy when 
they reach the bed in the forcing house. They have spent 
six weeks in getting ready to grow. They are now prepared 
to make rapid progress in the six or seven weeks of time 
allotted to them for heading. 



drekr's vegetables under glass. 55 

They are set eight inches apart each way, and there is 
nothing especially noteworthy about their life in the forcing 
house. They are well ventilated, freely watered on bright 
days, and kept at a steady temperature. 

After the lettuce begins to head the temperature is kept 
down to 40° at night. In day time the temperature runs up 
to 60°, but plenty of air is given. 

Some New England growers now sow lettuce seed as 
early as August i. This puts plants in the forcing house 
about the middle of September, and yields a crop ready for 
market about November i. 

The next crop of lettuce is treated in the same way, 
except that a two-inch coat of manure (instead of three) is 
dug into the bed. The young plants are taken from an 
in-doors seed bed. The plants are, however, started in the 
same manner and are as carefully transplanted and as well 
rooted, so that no delay will follow their transfer to the fore- 
house. They are so well developed that they can be headed 
in about six or seven weeks in the large house. 

The usual routine of work is to follow two crops of 
lettuce with a crop of cucumbers (see chapter on cucumbers); 
but there is a tendency now (1896) shown toward securing 
three crops of lettuce, to be followed by cucumbers a little 
later in the spring than under the ordinary way. 

The details of the work done by the New England 
" market farmers " are instructive. Take, for instance, their 
method of preparing manure for their forcing houses. This 
manure is hauled fresh from the city stables. The long 
straw is first shaken out. The manure is then brought to a 
uniform condition of wetness, and is rotted by repeated 
turnings. A fresh fermentation is started each time it is 
turned, until finally it is short, sweet and exactly suited for 
quick conversion into plant food. 

There is not a detail in the whole operation of lettuce 
growing in Boston that cannot be precisely duplicated in other 



56 dreer's vegetabi^es under glass. 

parts of the United States, save only the items of climate and 
soil ; and we believe that any one who will study the con- 
struction of the New England forcing houses, the free admis- 
sion of light and air, the position and treatment of the beds, 
the starting and subsequent management of the plants, &c., 
can produce lettuce as successfully as they grow it at Boston. 




D. L. TAPPAN'S vegetable FOECING HOUSE, AT 
ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 

Lettuce Prices. We can give only approximate 
winter prices for lettuce in the Philadelphia market, and 
when we quote $io down to $4 per 100 heads it will be 
understood that the season and the demand are the controll- 
ing influences, and that fixed prices do not exist. In the 
same way cold frame lettuce may be quoted at from $6 to $3 
per 100 heads, but these prices refer to really fine stuff. Poor 
lettuce goes a-begging. 

At these figures there is a margin of profit on carefully 
conducted operations, but there is no room in the business 
for any except wide-awake, progressive w^orkers. 

Amateurs and beginners are perfectly safe with lettuce, 
because the demand is unfailing and the crop reasonably cer- 
tain. But when it comes to large operations, involving 
heavy investments of capital, growers must of necessity do 
like the Boston people in pushing for the best appliances and 
most advanced methods known in modern gardening. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THK RADISH. 

Admitting that the lettuce stands first in prominence and 
profit among the under-glass vegetables, in forcing houses as 
well as in frames, we feel warranted in giving second place 
to the radish. This humble vegetable cannot command the 
fancy prices so willingly paid in the winter season for fresh 
green cucumbers and plump red tomatoes, but it far out- 
scores these dainties in numerical consequence, and by sheer 
abundance out-weighs them in money value. 



WHITK-TIPPED SCARLET GEM RADISH. 

From the Esher forcing houses (heretofore mentioned) 
72,000 bunches of radishes were sent to the Philadelphia 
market during one winter recently, the instance being cited 
to show that there is a brisk demand in cold weather for the 
green things which formerl}^ marked the advent of spring. 
Mr. Bsher deserves the name of a radish specialist. 

The radish is everybody's vegetable. It is a half-hardy 
thing, requiring a comparatively cool temperature for its 
perfect development. It adapts itself to hot beds and forcing 
houses quite well, but it objects to an over-heated forcing 
house as much as to an excessively exposed cold frame. It 

n7 



58 dreer's vegetables under glass. 

grows too many leaves and becomes pithy in one situation, 
and in the other case its growth is stunted or wholly checked, 
and under severe freezing it dies. Its proper temperature is 
from 40° to 65°, with plenty of fresh air. 

In rich soil, with sufficient water, it is a quick cropper, 
sometimes being read}^ for market in twenty-one days from 
the seed. 

Its period of sale covers the whole 5^ear, in its several 
varieties, though its best season is in the winter and spring 
months, when its merits as a crisp, toothsome relish cause it 
to be most fully appreciated. 

The seed is usually sown in the bed where it is to grow. 
Such is the common practice near Philadelphia. Some of 
the Yankee gardeners, however, have a different plan, for 
they transplant the radish from its seed bed, just as they do 
most of their crops, in order to increase the development of 
the root. 

The effect of transplanting anything is to check top 
growth, and to encourage root growth. 

Whether the practice of transplanting the radish does or 
does not encourage the growth of small feeding roots to an 
objectionable degree, and whether or not the expense for the 
labor is warranted in the results secured, are open questions 
on which we find a difference of opinion. They are points 
which individual gardeners must decide for themselves. 

To transplant or ' ' prick out ' ' radishes is not a slow 
operation, and an expert can pass a thousand plants per 
hour through his hands. It is, of course, a labor which 
is to be avoided unless it pays in cash results. 

It is good economy to work a winter forcing house to 
its fullest capacity, saving the time of the house (whenever 
possible) by doing all the seed sowing in smaller and less 
expensive quarters, and even transplanting young plants 
temporarily into beds less extensive and valuable than those 
of the final forcing house. 



drber's vegetabIvES under glass. 59 

Red and white varieties of radish (preferably the turnip- 
rooted sorts) are used for under-glass culture. Of the reds 
we know of nothing at this time superior to Cardinal Globe 
and White-Tipped Scarlet Gem, although a new radish of 
merit, almost leafless, has just (1896) been sent to America 
from beyond the sea. It must be tested here before it can 
be endorsed. White Box, of many shades of variety, is a 
favorite everywhere, both under glass and in the open 
garden. 

In heated structures radish seed may be planted at any 
season. The Philadelphia market gardeners begin to sow 
radish seed in cold frames in February ; though March is a 
more favorable month, on account of increased sunshine. 

The long radishes require more time to mature than the 
globular sorts, and are not so profitable under glass on that 
account. 

When not grown as a regular crop the radish is often 
used as a minor or catch crop ; that is, a crop to occupy the 
ground during the growth of something of more importance. 
They are thus grown in forcing houses, among cucumbers, 
and in cold frames, between rows of carrots or beets. 

Or the radish may be grown as part of a succession of 
crops, as our 1896 note books indicate. There we have an 
account of a market gardener who starts in early fall, gets 
two crops of radishes, one of lettuce, one of tomatoes, and 
one of cucumbers, making five crops in all, covering the 
whole year in the operation. This work is done in a sash- 
covered forcing house, where the glass is removable in mid- 
summer. 

The wholesale market price of radishes at Philadelphia 
in winter may be quoted at $2 to $4 per 100 bunches. Of 
the red sorts it requires ten or twelve to make a bunch, and 
of the white sorts six or eight to a bunch. 

In giving the place of second importance among winter 
crops to this vegetable it must be understood that the market 



6o dreer's vegetables under glass. 

as a whole is considered. There are comparatively few 
gardeners who make a leading specialty of the radish, but a 
very large number who use it in a small way or as a catch 
crop. It is an important one as a whole because more 
people are interested in it than in any other crop, possibl}^ 
excepting lettuce. 



From I GOO to 1 200 sashes can be worked on an acre of 
ground. At the low rate of $1 per sash this means sales 
amounting to $1000 or f 1200 per acre. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE CUCUMBER. 

The cucumber is a leading crop in the greatest American 
forcing houses. The Boston gardeners have been getting as 
high as $30 per hundred for White Spine cucumbers in 
January ; and from that price down to $12 per hundred in 
the later months. The New England cucumber growers 
have had the Eastern markets almost wholly under their 
control, for some years past, during the winter season. 




END VIEW OF A GEEAT FORCING HOUSE, SHOWING CUCUMBEES. 

There is a disposition now shown in this country to 
grow for the winter market the long, so-called English 
forcing cucumbers, of which something will hereafter be said. 

61 



62 driver's vkgktables under glass. 

The Boston method of growing lettuce is described in 
Chapter XI, where it is mentioned that the first lettuce crop 
is cut in November. The second crop of lettuce is headed 
about the first of January, and the beds are then made ready 
for cucumbers. 

About December first cucumber seed is sown in a warm 
bed ; on heat, as they say. Such a bed is given bottom 
heat from fermenting manure or from steam or hot water 
pipes, usually the latter plan. 

The young cucumber plants are pricked off twice 
(sometimes three times), in order to give them good root 
development ; for, as we have elsewhere reminded our 
readers, to transplant a seedling is to discourage its top 
growth and to encourage its root growth. 

The seedling cucumber plants are finally potted in five- 
inch or six inch pots, and by the first of January, under 
proper management, they are well started and vigorous, and 
the pot is full of roots. 

The White Spine cucumber, or one of its improved 
forms, is the variety commonly used at Boston at this time. 
Arlington White Spine is a favorite. The seed is grown in 
the open air. 

It will be remembered that the beds of the great New 
England forcing houses are made upon the ground, and that 
the soil is deep and mellow. For each of the two crops of 
lettuce grown a heavy coat of well-rotted manure is used, so 
that when the time comes for cucumbers the soil is well 
supplied with plant food of just the kind needed by the rank 
feeding roots. 

But this is not enough, for previous to setting the plants 
in the beds (early in January) trenchqs are dug from end to 
end of the house, about a foot wide and a foot and a-half 
deep. Not more than two or three trenches can be dug in 
an ordinary house, as the vines require a great deal of space 
for their proper development. From a single cucumber row 



drker's vegetabi.es under glass. 63 

the vines may be trained ten feet upward on two opposite, 
sloping trellises, thus covering fully a ten-foot-wide strip of 
ground space from one end of the greenhouse to the other. 
A greenhouse twenty-five feet wide would therefore warrant 
the digging of only two or three trenches. 

Fermenting manure is placed in the trench to the depth 
often inches, and firmly packed after the manner of making 
a hot bed. Soil to the depth of eight inches is put on the 
manure, and the general level of the bed restored. The 
cucumber plants are dumped out of the pots and set directly 
over the manure in the trenches, and a tropical temperature 
is maintained in the house. 

The plants are set 3>^ feet apart, two plants at each 
point, for training in opposite directions upon the trellises. 
The bottom heat furnished by the manure in the trenches, 
aided by the temperature of the house itself, stimulates the 
already vigorous plants into a rapid growth, and enables 
them to produce blossoms and fruit in the course of a few 
weeks. 

The cucumber grower has no more 
useful ally than the honey bee ; and the 
same industrious, unpaid laborer will do 
good service among tomato blossoms. 
Every New England gardener has one 
or more swarms of bees, and a hive is 
carried into the forcing house soon after 
- ,„ - the cucumbers are planted, so that the 

A FRIENDLY ALLY ^ces may be ready to visit the first 

OF THE UNDEE-GLASS bloSSOmS. 

cuLTUEisT. ^-^^ cucumber (like other plants of 

its tribe) bears two kinds of blossoms on the same vine. 
One sort has stamens and the other a pistil. It is necessary 
for the pollen of the former to be carried to the latter. The 
work was formerly done by hand, with a camel's hair brush, 
until it was found that the same result could be obtained 




64 drekr's vkgetablks undkr glass. 

more easily and cheaply through the agency of bees. The 
little insects are also more certain to find and fertilize all 
the cucumber blossoms than even an expert human operator. 

Cucumbers demand a high temperature, as already 
intimated. The house may run up to ioo° in sunlight, but 
ought not to fall below 60° at night, lest the plants be stunted. 

The trellises are made by using A-shaped trusses of 
iron or wood (V-shaped at the row, but A-shaped as to the 
way the trusses or supports are constructed), reaching from 
the bed nearly to the glass, with wires eight inches apart 




A VETERAN CUCUMBER GROWER (jOHN S. CROSBY, ARLINGTON, MASS.) 

running lengthwise of the house. The vines, which grow 
with great rapidity, are tied to the wires with string or 
raffia ; and it is no small trouble to keep the vines properly 
tied up. When the work is well done the fruit can be 
gathered from the under side of the trellis without difficulty. 
In four or five weeks from the time the plants leave 
the pots the cucumbers begin to go to market. The market 
box of the Boston grower holds about ninety cucumbers. 



drker's vegetables under glass. 65 

English Forcing Cucumbers. A class or group of 
cucumbers known and catalogued under this general name 
is now coming into demand at Philadelphia and other cities. 
Thus far the English forcing cucumbers are sold only to 
what is called the fancy trade ; that is, to people who know 
the excellence of the article and have means to pay for it. 

There are several growers at Philadelphia raising 
English forcing cucumbers. The seed is scarce and high 
in price, but this does not matter when it is realized that so 
few seeds are required to supply even a large establishment. 

The cucumbers of this group are very large in size, 
being so long as to equal three of the common type. They 
are practically seedless, and as to quality they are held in 
the highest esteem by people acquainted with them. 

They can be forced all winter, under the treatment 
heretofore described, but each plant must be given much 
room. 




rollison's telegeaph forcing cucumber. 



John G. Gardner, an experienced grower, elsewhere 
quoted, recommends that they be planted four feet apart in 
the rows ; two plants at a place, for training in opposite 
directions. Mr. Gardner recommends the variety called 
Telegraph. 

Under proper treatment the fruit can be had in sixty 
days from the seed (according to Mr. Gardner), and the 
bearing season may be prolonged for months, and even 
from one season to another. 

As to prices, the cucumbers of this type will easily 
bring 25 cents each in winter, and will be in demand among 
a class of buyers who are both numerous and desirable. To 



66 



DRKER'S VEGKTABLES under GI.ASS. 



this class, by the way, growers of winter luxuries are cater- 
ing with increasing profit year by year. 

The kind known as Telegraph still holds its place 
among growers of experience, but the Dreer house imported 
three varieties from London during the summer of 1896 that 
are so far ahead of all others in popular favor in England as 
to be worthy of recognition in America. These three new 
varieties are Lockie's Perfection, Rochford's Market and 
Covent Garden Favorite. The latter two are in highest 
esteem with the London market gardeners. 

The growing of English forcing cucumbers is no more 
difficult than the culture of other sorts, and as the demand 
(at good prices) is likely to increase the subject is worthy 
of attention from progressive gardeners. 




TAEKAGON. 



Tarragon roots for forcing are now on the market, 
plant is largely used for flavoring vinegar. 



The 



CHAPTER XIV. 



TOMATOES. 

Pursuing the idea advanced in the preface, that the 
best way to tell how to do things is to tell how things are 
being done by successful people, we quote Warren R. 
Shelmire, of Avondale, Chester county, Pa., on under-glass 
tomato culture, whose cultural methods are given to us 
for the purpose. 




THE LORILLAED TOMATO. 

Mr. Shelmire sows seed in July for the winter crop, and 
in November for the spring crop. He considers Lorillard 
best for winter and Mayflower best for spring. 

After the young plants are well started in the seed bed 
they are pricked out or transplanted ; and then, after some 
further growth, potted in three-inch pots. This insures 
strong root development. They reach the bed of the forcing 
house say two months after the time of sowing the seed, at 

67 



68 dreer's vegetabi.es under glass. 

which time the plants are about eight inches high. The 
roots fill the three-inch pots. 

Well- rotted manure of any kind may be used for the 
under-glass tomato bed. Sheep manure is excellent. Finely 
ground bone and bone black are suitable stimulants. "Be 
careful," says Mr. Shelmire, " of commercial fertilizers." 

The tomato plants are set two feet apart in the beds. 
Bach is trained to a single stem by pinching off all lateral 
shoots. A heavy string is tied to the plant near the ground, 
and carried to the rafter above. To this string the plant 
is trained, and an upright position thus secured. 

The day temperature of the tomato house ought to be 
from 70° to 80° ; the night temperature 60°. 

The fruiting season begins in three or four months after 
the sowing of the seed ; that is, in from one to two months 
after the plants are set in the bed of the forcing house. 

The blossoms must be pollenized regularly, at least 
every other day. This is an important matter, bearing 
directly upon fruit production, and hence upon the cash 
results of the business. 

The fruiting season lasts about three months. In winter 
it is best- to prepare the tomatoes for market by wrapping 
them separately in paper, and packing in small baskets, 
using plenty of paper as a lining for the basket. In spring- 
larger baskets are used, with excelsior as packing material. 

The profits are quoted by Mr. Shelmire as being ' ' very 
uncertain." If the cultivator succeeds in getting a crop well 
set on the vines, and if mildew does not get into the green- 
house, the tomato crop may be regarded as a fairly profitable 
one. 

Other Points about Tomato Culture. The Ohio 
experiment station has been growing tomatoes in greenhouse 
beds similar to those made for lettuce, about eight inches 
deep, and sub-irrigated by means of draining tile. It is 



drkkr's vegetables under glass. 69 

considered advantageous to water the plants in this way, 
rather than on the surface in the usual manner. The 
estimated yield of under-glass tomatoes is two pounds per 
plant. In this estimate each plant occupies only one and 
one-half square feet of space. 

It will be observed that Mr. Shelmire's plan allows four 
square feet of bed space to each plant. 

Some tomato groivers have found that a hive of bees in 
the forcing house adds to the certainty of poUenizing the 
blossoms. The New England growers nearly all emploj^ 
bees for the purpose of fertilizing under-glass crops. 

Fifty cents per pound has been a common New York 
quotation for winter tomatoes, for some years past. 

John G. Gardner, a well-known horticulturist (see 
article on beans), sows tomato seed July 27 for the first 
under-glass crop. He expects fruit in ninety da3's from the 
planting of the seed. This planting date enables him to have 
tomatoes ready for market about the first of November, im- 
mediately following the end of the out-of-doors crop. He 
continues to plant seed, at intervals through the winter, 
planning to end the under-glass fruiting season in July, 
when home-grown, open-air tomatoes are on the market. 



PART IIL 



CHAPTER XV. 



Asparagus. 

Beans, 

Beets, 

Cabbage Plants, 

Carrot, 

Cauliflower, 

Corn Salad, 



THE minor crops. 

Daisy, 

Endive, 

Melon, 

Mint, 

Mushrooms, 

Onions, 

Pansy, 



Parsley, 

Potato, 

Rhubarb, 

Spinach, 

Violet, 

Water Cress. 



The list of winter crops treated in the third and conclud- 
ing part of this little book does not exhaust the under-glass 
possibilities, for almost all the garden vegetables are capable 
of production during the whole year, with the facilities and 
markets now within the reach of American gardeners. 

Those mentioned above are the crops now commonly 
grown in addition to the so-called staples treated in Part II. 

We do not mean to belittle the value of any of 
these things in thus treating them as of minor importance^ 
for every part of the country — every latitude, every altitude^ 
every geological belt — is especially adapted to a certain crop 
or crops, and success is often a question of learning what is 
best suited to the location and surroundings of the individual 
gardener. 

This is, indeed, a very fortunate circumstance, since it 
gives to every culturist in the whole country some special 
advantage, and by so much adds to the possibility of good 
profits. Except for this variation the gardener would be 
ruined by the universal competition. 



DRKBR'S VRGETABI^ES under GI.ASS. 71 

In other words, we believe that every part of the coun- 
try can produce something better than any other part of the 
country. 

The common bedding crops are not mentioned in detail 
in this book because they belong more properly to the open 
air group, yet the beginner in glass gardening must not make 
the financial mistake of omitting to provide for such things. 
There is a brisk spring demand everywhere for tomato, cab- 
bage, egg, celery, pepper, beet, lettuce and other plants 
needed for early gardening operations. The retail prices of 
these things amount to many dollars during April and May. 

There is a distinct and widely-marked tendency in 
America toward better gardening ; toward the production of 
crops which lately were regarded as unremunerative on 
account of their limited sale. The increased demand for 
what were once called luxuries has resulted in a change that 
must be recognized as a new era in American gardening. 
Operations in under-glass work are in progress all over the 
United States of a size and character undreamed of a genera- 
tion ago ; and while there have been failures among these 
new enterprises there have been so many conspicuous suc- 
cesses that there is a temptation for ambitious young men to 
engage in under-glass horticulture. 

It requires good brains to manage a large American veg- 
etable forcing house, and the results before us show that 
brains have won profits in such enterprises. 

From among the group of ' ' minor ' ' crops will doubtless 
come some important business successes. 



CHAPTER XVI. 




ASPARAGUS. 

When it is known that the first 
home-grown asparagus in the Phila- 
delphia market sometimes brings $i 
per bunch, and that the demand for 
this succulent vegetable is in no dan- 
ger of falling off, it is easy to under- 
stand why the near-by truckers indulge 
in a friendly rivalry in their efforts to 
be first in the market. 

The earliest bunches command 
the highest prices, though for the 
matter of that the quotations for aspar- 
agus in the Philadelphia market are generally satisfactory to 
the producers all through the spring season, as was the case 
in 1896. 

Asparagus can be forced in several ways. The large 
roots can be taken from the outside beds in the fall, stored in 
sand, and carried into the forcing house at any time during 
the winter. This plan is a wasteful one, as usually man- 
aged, and is advisable only under the special circumstances 
of an extra good market or as a way of getting rid of an old 
bed. 

The roots thus treated are sacrificed, as they do not live 
long after the violent handling which the plan necessitates ; 
or, if they live, they have but little vigor. 

A better way is one which is practiced by the Philadel- 
phia gardeners, and which may be termed a money-produc- 
ing method. It is to place sashes over undisturbed roots, in 
the open ground. 



dreer's vegetables under glass. 73 

To prepare for this work a proper location, with warm 
exposure, is selected. Three rows of asparagus are planted, 
the rows two feet apart. They are given the usual treatment, 
being well cultivated in summer and heavily manured in 
the late autumn. The greatest strength and development 
are sought for by the gardener so that the roots will respond 
to the demands made upon them. 

About the third year after planting the asparagus may 
be forced with glass. Lines of boards are set on their edges 
on both sides of the bed, about eight feet apart, and eight- 
foot sashes are laid crosswise, making an ordinary cold frame. 

The glass materially hastens the genial soil warmth 
which must precede the ''shooting" of the asparagus, and 
an early crop is thus secured. 

In summer the sashes are removed, and the bed permit- 
ted to renew its strength under open-air culture and condi- 
tions. The roots are never disturbed. 

The labor and expense of this plan of forcing asparagus 
are so light, comparatively, that the practice is regarded as a 
profitable one. 

No plan which involves disturbing the roots is advis- 
able, except under peculiar circumstances. The feeding roots 
are long and slender, and are injured or broken if the plant 
is moved. The cold frame plan, or a modification of it, is 
the best of the cheap ways of forcing asparagus. 



Imperial Long-Standing kale is sowed broadcast in the 
open ground in August and September, for spring cutting. 
It must be protected with straw or litter during the winter 
months. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



RHUBARB. 

Rhubarb seems to be gaining in popular favor, for we 
hear of rhubarb specialists and their large crops, and we see 
the construction of great stretches of framework over rhu- 
barb beds that by the addition of sashes become forcing 
houses in the spring of the 3^ear. 

Allusion has been made in an earlier chapter to the pro- 
duction of rhubarb under greenhouse benches. Some of the 
Philadelphia growers follow this plan. 

Louis Reichner, Belmont avenue and Ford road, takes 
roots of the Paragon variet}^ from the open field in the late 
autumn, packs them a foot apart on the ground under one of 
his greenhouse benches, and pulls the stalks twice in the 
early spring. His bed of 1896 w^as 4)2 feet wide by 150 feet 
long. The roots are permitted to die after use. 

The bunches are made of from three to five stalks, and 
the wholesale price in winter is $8 to $10 per hundred bunches. 

There is a space of about two feet from the top of the 
rhubarb bed to the bottom of the bench or stage above it ; 
no loss of valuable room. New roots are brought in each 
j^ear from the open garden. 

Daniel R. Comly, of Bustleton (Philadelphia), employs 
a sash-covered pit, or sunken cold frame, for forcing rhubarb 
in the early spring months. 

John Davis, on Richmond street, Philadelphia, forces 
rhubarb on the natural level of the ground, where it grows 
all the year, by raising the sides of ordinar}^ cold frames so 
as to afford sufficient space for the development of the leaves. 

Forcing Rhubarb in New England. Our observa- 
tions in Massachusetts in 1S96 brought our camera within 

74 



drkkr's vkgetables under glass. 



75 



short range of several very extensive rhubarb forcing houses, 
one of which is partially represented in the engraving. The 
sides of this house are covered with heavy paper, and provi- 
sion is made for steam heating. When the sashes are in 
place the building can be heated quite easily, as the heat is 
not turned into the house until the winter is nearly over. 
The general details of construction can be learned from the 
picture. 




RHUBARB FORCING HOUSE OF E. J. FAUNCE, ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 

[Building 31 x 2G4feet.] 

This is perhaps a fair type of the great rhubarb forcing 
houses in New England. They vary in construction. Some 
are heated and some unheated. In the latter case the glass 
is merely for protection and for holding the warmth of the 
sunshine. Some have sloping roofs and some flat rools. 
In the latter the rain finds its way from each sash to the 
ground below. 



76 dreer's vegetabi^es under glass. 

From an 1896 note book we take the following figures 
and estimates concerning a rhubarb house near Boston : Sashes 
needed to cover the framework, 320 ; rhubarb pulled onl}^ 
once ; average yield estimated at 20 pounds to the sash ; 
average price 7 Y^ cents per pound ; estimated gross receipts, 
$480. This means $1.50 per sash. 

The rhubarb in this case is planted two feet apart each 
way. It is well cultivated, and fertilized generously with 
cow manure and hog manure. The glass is put on the house 
about the middle of February, and removed after a total 
service of four to six weeks, and then used over radishes in 
frames. The house is provided with steam pipes. No 
watering is done. The whole cost, above cultivation and 
manuring, is the labor each year of handling the sashes ; in 
putting them on and removing them from the framework of 
the house. Except during the early spring the house is 
wholly open to the weather. The roots are not moved. 

The varieties of rhubarb most commonly grown are 
Linnaeus, Victoria and Paragon. Some growers have a 
decided preference about variety ; others do not know the 
name of their own strain, depending wholly on cultural 
methods for success. 



Kohl-rabi or turnip-rootel cabbage is sow^n in January 
and February in cold frames by the Philadelphia market 
gardeners. The Early White Vienna is a favorite sort for 
sowing at this time of the year. The young plants are set 
in the open ground for their subsequent development. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



BEETS. 

Market gardeners sometimes complain that beets are 
" too slow " for growing under glass with profit. Neverthe- 
less great quantities are thus grown in hothouses, hot beds 
and frames, and there is reason to call the beet crop a good 
one for the worker with glass. 

When cold frame beets can be sold at the rate of eight 
bunches for a dollar, wholesale, and hot bed beets at the 
rate of five bunches for a dollar, wholesale, there is some- 
thing in the business for the producer. A bunch will contain 
from five to eight beets. 




CROSBY'S EGYPTIAN BEET. 

These figures are realized for what ma}^ be termed the 
first and best in the Philadelphia markets, but prices quickly 
fall. The demand is continual, but Southern competition 
has injured Philadelphia prices to some extent. Still, this 
market will always be a good one, capable of absorbing 
enormous quantities of fruit and vegetables, and willing 
to pay good prices for prime articles. 

Another objection to beet culture under glass, aside 
from the time required, is the room demanded by the leaves 
or tops. 



78 drkbr's vkgetabIvEs under glass. 

To cure this defect several beets have been put on the 
market which require but little space for their development. 
Crosby's Egyptian is a recognized stand-by for under-glass 
work, and Carter's Excelsior is another favorite. 

The Philadelphia gardeners sow beet seed in cold frames, 
in February, in rows eleven inches apart, with lettuce 
between. The lettuce is off in time to give the beet tops 
room for development. Thomas Brooks, Jr., one of the 
most extensive truckers in the Richmond street district, 
favors Carter's Excelsior for such use in frames. 

If beets are wanted in mid-winter they can be had in 
forcing houses or hot beds. The Boston gardeners some- 
times grow beets as a catch crop under their cucumber 
trellises, in the great forcing houses ; but the beet prefers 
a lower temperature than the cucumber, and does better 
where it can get plenty of fresh air. Wherever the tempera- 
ture is too high (say above 65°) the beet shows a tendency 
to run too much to top. The same is true of the radish. 

There cannot be doubt about profit in raising beets in 
cold frames near a good market. The cost is small and the 
risk light. Whether beets can be made to pay in hot beds 
and forcing houses must be determined by the judgment of 
individuals. It will depend on circumstances. 

With the lettuce removed, as suggested in the plan of 
Mr. Brooks, there would remain say three rows of beets 
under each cold frame s^ash. At four inches apart this would 
be about fifty beets to the sash, which might sell for $1 or 
more in early spring. To this, of course, would be added 
the lettuce sales, and also the value of the spinach cut at 
Christmas, so that the gross annual sales of the sash might 
easily amount to $2 or more under this rotation. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



CAUIvIFI^OWKR. 

For a picture of cauliflower the reader is referred to the 
frontispiece. The same vegetable, in growth, is shown in 
the interior view of the -Reichner forcing house, in Chapter 5. 
It is a crop of no small importance, both under glass and in 
the open air. 

Cauliflower is worth from 25 to 50 cents per head, 
wholesale, in the Philadelphia markets in winter. It is a 
member of the cabbage family, requiring a comparatively 
low temperature. Its cultural requirements are quite the 
same as in the case of the radish, the beet, etc. Well started 
plants set in the forcing house will produce heads in twelve 
or thirteen weeks. 

Cauliflower is a good under-glass crop, but one which 
requires much room, on account of the size of the plants, 
which must be set two feet apart each way, in order to 
secure proper development. Seed sowing may be done at 
any time in heated structures by amateurs ; but market 
gardeners plan to have their crops mature at certain dates, 
when good prices are reasonably certain. 

The Reichner plan is to sow the seed about the loth of 
October, and pot off into 3-inch pots. This makes the 
plants ready for the forcing beds between Christmas and 
New Year's, and brings the cauliflower into market in 
February or March. The Snow Storm variety is used. 
The plants are set 18 inches by 2 feet in the beds. Other 
growers favor Snowball, Erfurt, &c., and prefer to set 2 x 2 
feet, as above stated. Some of the Boston growers choose 
to transplant twice, rather than use pots. 

Mr. Reichner, who is a successful grower, says : ' ' Lots 

79 



8o dreer's vegetables under glass. 

of manure, lots of water and plenty of air, and you will have 
no trouble in growing cauliflower. " The temperature must 
be kept down, or the head will "draw" into an open and 
undesirable form. 

A temperature ranging from 40° to 65° will answer for 
such crops as cauliflower, radish, &c. ; and free ventilation 
is a requisite. 

Biginners and amateurs are surprised to learn that 
cauliflower seed is worth from 40 cents to $5 per ounce, 
depending on the strain ; but when the fact becomes known 
that the seed is extremely minute, and that a packet of the 
best sort can be had for 25 cents, the price seems more 
reasonable. The cauliflower seed is so small that a little of 
it goes a long way, if sown with care. 

The cheapest cauliflower is in reality that which experi- 
ence shows to be the best and surest-heading kind, regardless 
of the first cost of the seed. We know of nothing at this 
time superior for forcing purposes to Snow Storm, a variety 
of ivory whiteness and a good header. 

Cauliflower can be started in the fall (September 10 to 
20) and "wintered over," the same as cabbage, but it is 
better to select some other sort than Snow Storm for the 
purpose, as this one objects to any check or interruption 
in its growth. Snowball may be safely carried through the 
winter in frames, but there seems to be a disposition on the 
part of gardeners toward early spring sowing in frames and 
hot beds, and away from the practice of " wintering over " 
which was once so generally in vogue. 

Nothing can be more satisfactory than Snow Storm 
cauliflower if given correct treatment from the date of seed 
sowing to the time for heading. It will generously repay 
good management. 



CHAPTER XX. 




MUSHROOMS. 

Mushroom culture can be treated 
but briefly in the limited space afforded 
by a single chapter. But the mush- 
room is a winter crop of so much im- 
portance that it cannot be altogether 
omitted from this book. 

And yet it is not, properly speak- 
ing, an under-glass crop, because the 
greenhouse is not the best place in 
which to grow it ; though it is grown 
to some extent under greenhouse benches. The changes 
of temperature of the greenhouse are hostile to success with 
mushrooms. Wherever there is light there is heat, and 
wherever the light penetrates there are contrasts between 
day and night temperatures. This is the only reason that 
"dark places " are better for mushrooms. 

The mushroom in nature grows in the open field, in 
full daylight ; but it grows best at a season of the year when 
the day temperature is on the decrease and the soil tempera- 
ture makes the night comparatively warm. The ideal 
temperature for mushrooms is 57 degrees. 

Many experimenters have ceased to grow mushrooms 
on account of the uncertainty of the crop, but this is in 
reality an argument in its favor, since it tends to insure a 
good market and good prices for those growers who push on 
to success. The price for the past ten years, taking an 
average, has not been below fifty cents a pound ; and there 
is a fair margin of profit to the grower at this figure. Some 
expert growers have secured an average price of sixty cents, 

81 



82 dreer's vegetabIvEs under gi^ass. 

as the trade is a fancy one, and prices depend largely on 
success in pleasing a class of rather particular buyers. 

The five requisites of success in mushroom culture are : 
A proper bed, right moisture, good spawn, uniform tempera- 
ture (near 57 degrees), and good management. 

We may at once dismiss two of these requisites by 
saying that good spawn can be had of any reliable seedsman 
who knows what he is selling, and by emphasizing the fact 
that a steady temperature of 55 to 60 degrees is the best 
that is known. We have three points remaining for con- 
sideration : the bed, the moisture, and the management. 

The common commercial mushroom is grown in a bed 
made of horse manure and loam. A wet, soggy bed is to be 
avoided, as it will rot the spawn. A perfectly dry bed is 
also to be shunned, as the spawn will no more grow in such 
a place than seeds will start in a box of dry dust. 

The ideal mushroom bed is one in which there is a slow, 
steady, gradually decreasing fermentation ; a fermentation 
which by its warmth and vapor quickens the spawn, en- 
courages it to "run" or send out web-like filaments, and 
which finally puts the bed in the condition of an autumn 
meadow — a medium filled with a mass or network of spawn. 

The whole bed ought to become just what the mush- 
room " brick" was when it came from the seedsman, except 
with more moisture. A handful of the material applied to 
the nose will give an unmistakable odor of mushrooms. 

If a heavy shower falls upon a meadow when the 
mushroom spawn is in a feeble state, only partly " run," the 
spawn will perish and there will be no crop there in the 
fall ; and if the impatient gardener applies water to his 
mushroom bed when the spawn is in its early, weak con- 
dition the crop will be wholly ruined. 

If nature (in a good mushroom year) be studied and 
imitated the secret of growing mushrooms will be learned. 
When the spawn has filled the bed, and the little buttons 



drker's vegktablks undkr glass. 83 

begin to appear on the surface, we may safely (though 
sparingly at first) use the watering pot. Later on the 
application of water will do no harm. The effect will be 
the same as that of a warm rain in August or September ; 
there will be a great show of mushrooms. 

Dktaii,s of Management. Having outlined the end 
to be attained the method of procedure may be briefly stated 
as follows : 

Select a place (preferably a dark place) where a tempera- 
ture of 50° to 60° can be maintained. A cellar will answer, 
though a shed, stable or arch can be made to serve the 
purpose. An underground situation, like a vault or cave, 
is an excellent place ; perhaps the best of all. 

Obtain fresh horse manure to the desired amount, 
estimating that a ton of manure, after preparation, will 
make about sixty-five square feet of bed (10 inches deep). 

Prepare the manure by stacking, turning, shaking and 
re-stacking, adding loam at the rate of one bushel of loam 
to four or five bushels of manure. 

Avoid the too free use of the watering pot ; the manure 
must be moist, but not wet. It will require two or three 
weeks to get the manure in good order. 

Make the bed about ten inches thick, tramping or 
pounding it so as to render it firm and compact. Insert a 
thermometer and await results. 

If the manure is in good order the mercury will rise. 
Sometimes it will go up to 100°, or even to 120° or 130°. 
After a time it will begin to fall, dropping slowly or rapidly 
according to conditions. 

On the downward course of the mercury, when 90° has 
been reached, insert pieces of spawn. It matters little 
whether they are broken large or small. A brick of spawn 
ought to be sufficient for six square feet of bed. Insert the 
pieces say two inches below the surface, and firm the manure 
about the spawn. • 



84 



DRKKR'S VKGKTABLES under GI.ASS. 



Do not cover the bed until the spawn has been planted 
for a week or ten days ; then spread a coat of loam an inch 
thick over the whole bed, and make the surface smooth and 
firm. If covered too soon the soil will act like a blanket, 
raise the temperature, and kill the spawn. 

Do not apply water until the mushrooms begin to 
appear, which ought to be in six or eight weeks from the 
time of spawning. lyitter may be used to prevent the surface 




END OF MUSHROOM HOUSE OF WYMAN BROTHEES, 
ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 

of the bed from drying out too fast, or a fine spray may be 
thrown on the surface of the bed at intervals, provided the 
water is not sufficient to sink below the surface. 

A crop of mushrooms under the best management seldom 
exceeds a pound and a half to the square foot. The average 
crop is nearer half a pound ; and there are many total failures. 

John G. Gardner, whose present address is West Consho- 
hocken, Pa. , is an expert mushroom grower. He takes the 
manure almost as it comes from the stables, incorporates a 



drker's vkgetabIvEs under glass. 



85 



very large percentage of loam with it, makes deep beds, and 
controls the heat and moisture so well that he gets unusually- 
large and long crops. The secret of his success is the care 
and accuracy of his details. He imitates nature. 

The Kift mushroom house at West Chester, Pennsyl- 
vania, is a building seventy-five feet long by about ten feet 
wide. It was formerly a greenhouse, with equal double 




MUSHKOOM HOUSE MADE FKOM OLD GEEEN HOUSE, BELONGING TO 
JOSEPH KIFT & SON, WEST CHESTEE, PA. 

pitch north and south. The building for some reason was 
hard to heat, so without removing the sashes it was converted 
into a house for growing mushrooms. The glass was 
simply covered with roofing paper, on top of which hemlock 
boards were laid, as shown in the picture. The peak of the 
roof where the boards come together is covered with paper. 
There is a door in each end of the building, but there are no 
ventilators. The house is heated with steam. A mushroom 
bed covers the entire floor, the walk being laid on raised 



86 drekr's vegetables under glass. 

wooden supports. There is also a raised bed three feet wide 
along the north side of the building. This makes the total 
area of the house 975 square feet. The house has produced 
satisfactory crops of mushrooms for several years. 

We give here (page 84) a picture of a large mushroom 
house visited during 1896. It belongs to the Wyman 
Brothers, extensive market farmers at Arlington, Massachu- 
setts. Its great length is not shown in the picture. 

The construction of the house is very simple. It is 
made of hemlock boards. It is partly below the ground 
level. It is heated by steam. The roof is covered with 
paper and then with salt hay. The beds are made directly 
upon the ground. They are three in number, with narrow 
allej^s between them for the convenience of those who care 
for the crop. The width of the house is about 17 feet, and 
of the beds about 4, 6 and 5 feet, with walks a foot in width. 

The way to begin mushroom culture is to appropriate for 
the trial any underground place that may be available, and 
that can be heated if necessary in the winter season. 

We know of one grower who used an abandoned vault 
or cave near his dwelling; an underground apartment walled 
with stone and with an arched ceiling. The temperature 
stood at 57° or 58° all the year without artificial heat. We 
have in mind other cases where mushrooms have been success- 
fully grown in house cellars ; but there is always an objection 
to carrying manure into a place under a dwelling house, lest 
it breed disease. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



WATEJR CRESS, BEANS, MEI.ONS, MINT, POTATOES. 

The grouping of these five winter crops is artificial, and 
is a mere matter of convenience. Beans and melons demand 
a tropical temperature for their quick development ; 65° and 
upward. Mint, potatoes and water cress require less forcing, 
but can be grown with profit under greenhouse conditions, if 
near good markets. Water cress is the most important one 
of the group, commercially speaking, at this time in the 
winter market at Philadelphia. 

Water Cress. The illustration shows the vegetable 
growing in water: it can be grown as well in the soil of a 

greenhouse bed. It 
is used in enormous 
quantities all the year 
in the large cities, be- 
ing served with meats 
in the restaurants. 

The culture of 
water cress in brooks 
or near spring heads is 
well understood. It 
will grow anywhere in 
shallow, running water. Glass sashes placed over beds made 
at or near natural springs will make it possible to obtain 
fresh water cress all winter. 

It can be grown in forcing houses, as stated. The 
Philadelphia gardeners sow seed (True Erfurt) in October. 
It is put on the market in pint boxes, packed with the leaves 
uppermost. The boxes sell at $5 to $7 per 100, wholesale. 
Successional plantings are made, so as to have a fresh supply 
all winter. 

87 




WATER CRESS. 



88 DREER'S vegetables under GIvASS. 

The culture of water cress in beds is slightly different 
from the culture in running streams. In the former case it 
must not be made too wet or it will become slimy. In the 
latter case the constantly changing water removes any such 
tendency. 

Beans. John G. Gardner, of West Conshohopken, Pa., 
(formerly of Jobstown, N. J.), mentions Sion House as his 
best forcing bean. He has also used lyong Yellow Six 
Weeks (a green-podded bean) and Mohawk, but prefers the 
one first mentioned. A tropical temperature (65° and upward) 
is needed for beans in the greenhouse. Beans are sold in 
half-pound and pound bunches in winter, and bring good 
prices among a certain class of buyers. The demand is a 
fancy one, and beans cannot everywhere be grown with profit. 

A dwarf variety of bean, with long, green pods, known 
as Best-of-All, is used for forcing purposes by some Phila- 
delphia gardeners. It resembles Sion House in many respects. 

Melons. The Early Hackensack melon is mentioned 
in the Dreer note books of 1896 as seen in cultivation in the 
large forcing houses of the Hittinger Brothers, at Belmont, 
Massachusetts. The crop was in fine condition, with numbers 
of well-developed melons on the vines. The feasibility of 
growing the melons to perfection was fully demonstrated. 
The profit of the operation was not within our reach to deter- 
mine. The melon belongs to the class of fancy crops, and 
profits depend almost wholly upon the market in which such 
things are sold. In some places melons could be forced with 
profit ; in other places the cost would exceed the receipts. 

Mint. The cultivation of mint (spearmint) as a green- 
house crop seems to be increasing rapidly, and our note books 
show that it is now commonly grown in winter for all the 
large city markets. 

It is growm from roots to be had of the seedsmen, or by 



iLofC. 



drbkr's vkgetabi^es under glass. 89 

the division of the roots of the wild mint of the meadows. 
It grows in the soil of the forcing house without trouble. 

Mint retails at 10 cents a bunch in the early spring. It 
is used for flavoring meats, especially lamb. 

Potato. It is no new thing for English gardeners to 
force potatoes in beds and in pots. They use a long, slender 
kidney potato, which comes to quick maturity. Our note 
books record a case where a Pennsylvania market gardener 
in 1896 succeeded in growing ordinary potatoes under glass 
in time to compete with the new potatoes from the South. 
He sold the under-glass potatoes at about the same price per 
half-peck as he afterward obtained per bushel for the out-of- 
doors product. 



Water cress, mint and parsley must be ranked among 
the profitable minor crops. 



CHAPTER XXII. 




SAVOY SPINACH, 



SPINACH, CORN SAI.AD, ENDIVE. 

These three vegetables have a certain natural affinity, in 
that all are quite hardy, and all are well suited to cold frame 
culture. 

Spinach. This 
is the most impor- 
ta;nt member of the 
group. It is grown 
in enormous quanti- 
ties near all the large 
markets. The seed 
is sowed in frames 
(and in the open 
ground) in Septem- 
ber, and the spinach 
is ready for the Christmas market, when it is worth from $2 
to $3 per barrel wholesale at Philadelphia. The round-leaf 
sorts are preferable. Dreer' s Round-Seeded Savoy is excellent 

for fall sowing. The Bos- 
ton gardeners sell their sur- 
plus spinach to the canners, 
getting 20 cents per bushel 
for it. Spinach seed germi- 
nates quickly, and the plants 
grow rapidly. 

Corn Sai.ad. This is 
coEN SALAD. treated the same as spinach, 

except that it is often planted 
regularly like lettuce, while spinach is broadcasted or sowed 
in rows. It is sold in the Philadelphia market in consider- 

90 




DRKKR'S VKGETABI^KS UNDKR GI.ASS. 91 

able quantities ; perhaps one-fourth or one-third as much 
corn salad as spinach. It brings 50 cents to $1 per bushel in 
Philadelphia at Christmas. The I^arge-Seeded corn salad is 
commonly grown. 




ENDIVE. 

KndivK. a variety of endive commonly grown at 
Philadelphia in fall and winter is the Giant Fringed. The 
seed is planted late in August for the Christmas market, and 
the young plants transferred to frames. The wholesale price 
is six heads for about 25 cents, or 25 heads for $1. Heads of 
endive, nicely bleached, are to be seen in all the Philadelphia 
restaurants in fall and winter. Endive is used as a salad. It 
is ornamental as well as edible. It is bleached by tying the 
leaves together or by covering with a piece of slate or wood. 

The Giant Fringed may be called the finest of the green 
endives, and the Green Curled the best of the truly "curled '* 
types. It is also green. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



CARROTS, ONIONS, PARSI^EY, CABBAGK PLANTS. 

This chapter treats of another group of hardy or almost 
hardy plants. All are adapted to the cold frame, and all are 
within reach of the amateur gardener. They all figure in 
commercial operations, and are of considerable importance 
as money makers. 

Carrots. The so- 
called stump-rooted or 
half- long sorts are gen- 
erally used for under- 
glass work. They are 
in wide demand for fla- 
voring soups. ThePhil- 
delphia gardeners sow 
jarrot seed in frames 
/rom October i to Octo- 
ber 15. The rows are 
t leven inches apart, with 
lettuce between ; or rad- 
ishes may be planted 
between the rows of car- 
rots in spring. Other gardeners sow the carrots in spring, 
believing that fall-sown plants are stunted. Half-long 
Nantes is one of the varieties that is used. Five or six car- 
rots make a bunch, and the wholesale price is twenty-five 
bunches for $1. Early Scarlet Horn and Earliest Short Horn 
are used in hot beds and greenhouses. 

Onions. Onion culture under glass near Philadelphia 
is confined for the most part to starting seed in spring, for 

92 




HALF-LOXG NAXTES CAEROTS. 



DREER'S VEGETABI^ES under GI.ASS. 



93 




loo bunches. 



transplanting to the open ground, and 
to the production of scullions or shoots. 
The latter is an important and profitable 
industry. Half-grown onions are set in 
frames in the fall and allowed to make 
roots and even sprouts. In the early- 
spring these shoots make a quick growth, 
when they are pulled apart, cleaned, 
bunched and sent to the market as 
scullions. They bring $1.50 to $2 per 
Yellow Globe Dan vers and other sorts are used. 




PARSI.EY. This crop ranks with water cress in its import- 
ance in the city restaurants in winter. So important is it 

that when the home supply fails it 
is imported from the Bermudas for 
the Philadelphia market. It grows 
easily, in cold frames or hot beds. 
It requires but little heat. It is 
worth $3 to $4 per hundred bunches, 
wholesale. The curled varieties are preferred. Its culture is 
simple, as it merely demands a little shelter, good soil and 
fresh air. 

Cabbage PIvANTS. The wintering of Jersey Wakefield 
and other first early cabbage plants is advisable in some 
parts of the country, for early spring plants. The seed is 
sowed in September or October, and the plants set deeply in 
the soil of the cold frame. If freely aired they will be strong 
in spring, and ready for quick growth. There is a disposi- 
tion, as elsewhere noted, to depend more and more on early- 
sown spring plants. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



PANSY, VIOI.KT, DAISY. 

There are two good reasons for introducing the names of 
three flowers in this brief treatise on under-glass vegetables : 
they are raised by the market gardeners in the same cold 
frames with vegetables and sent to the same market, and they 
represent a good deal of money in the early spring months. 

The Pansy. Pansy seed ought 
to be sowed in September, and the 
plants wintered over. It is immaterial 
whether the seed be sown in the frames 
or in the open ground. They will live 
out of doors, if protected with litter, 
but they will accomplish more growth 
and store up more strength, and bloom 
more quickly, if wintered under glass. 
Pansies bring 25 cents per basket 
of six to eight plants in the Philadel- 
phia markets. 

We especially recommend not the largest but the richest 
types, with clear and deep colors and velvety texture. Dreer's 
Royal Exhibition has been developed with these points 
especially in view. 

The V101.ET. There is no 
sweeter fragrance than that of 
early spring violets, and the 
blooms come almost for the ask- 
ing. The roots are not expen- 
sive, and the culture is simple. 
It is only necessary to set the 
violet roots in frames under glass, 
and give them abundance of air 
94 





DRKKR'S VKGKTABI.KS UNDKR GLASS. 95 

during mid-winter. The first warm days of spring bring 
forth the dormant buds. The heat of the sun is quite suffi- 
cient to produce flowers in abundance in February and March. 
The single, deep-blue variety known as Schoenbrun is in 
most common commercial use here for cold frame culture. 
jg»&^ Luxonne is a larger type of single 

Jfl^^^ blue violet. 

/') ^^^^f '^^^ Daisy. The daisy demands 

\Mr ^^^ the same cultural conditions as the 

jT^^ ^1^^ pansy and the violet. It is the least 

^^^jg^^Hpl^^ common of the group, yet has many 

^^^^^ffift|^^^ admirers. There is a comparatively 

^^^^BS^^^^pL' new daisy called Snow Crest, bearing 

^^^^^Ml^^ p^^ large flowers on long stems, which is 

HI^^B^S^^^H worthy of trial along with the older 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Allen's forcing houses 32 

Aphides 42 

Asparagus 72 

Beans 88 

Bedding plants. 71 

Bees 63 

Beets 77 

Border 38 

Boston methods, lettuce 53 

Boston methods, cucumber . . 62 

"Boxes" 11 

Brooks, ThomaS) Jr 78 

Budlong & Co 13 

"Burn" of lettuce . . 54 

Cabbage 93 

Carrot. 92 

Cauliflower 79 

Change of soil 16 

Cold frame 11 

Comly, Daniel R 75 

Corn salad 90 

Crop rotation 17 

Crops, list of 46, 70 

Crosby's " wash room " 36 

Crosby, John S 64 

Cucumber 61 

Cucumber, Boston methods. ... 62 

Daisy 95 

Damping off' 42 

Davis, John 13, 74 

Diseases 42 

Dreer's one-acre greenhouses. . . 32 

Endive 91 

English forcing cucumber .... 65 

Esher, John C 28 

Faunce, E. J 75 

February work 18 

Fire bed 24 

Forcing houses 32 

Gardner, John G 65, 69, 84, 88 

Hittinger's irrigation 40 

Hot air bed 24 

Hotbed 19 

Insects. . 42 

Insecticides 43 

Irrigation 38 

Kale 73 

Kift's mushroom house 84 

Kohl-rabi 76 



PAGE. 

Lettuce 46 

Lettuce, Boston methods 53 

Lettuce marker 49 

"Lid". ... 16 

Maggots 43 

Manure, preparation of 15, 20 

Melon 88 

Minor crops 70 

Mint 88 

Mushrooms 81 

Onions. 92 

Pansy 94 

Parsley 93 

Plant diseases 42 

Plant lice 42 

Potato 89 

Prices and profits 18 

Principal crops 46 

Radish 57 

Rawson's forcing houses 35 

Reichner's forcing houses . . . . 26, 30 

Rhubarb 74 

Rhubarb forcing house 75 

Ridge culture 47 

Riverton greenhouses 32 

Rotations of crops 17 

Sash 9 

Sash-covered forcing houses ... 26 

Seed planting 45 

Shelmire, Warren R 67 

Shutter 16 

Soil and preparation of 15 

Spinach 90 

"Strings" 11 

Succession of crops 31 

Summer storage of sashes 14 

Summer use of frames 12 

Sweet potatoes 24 

Tappan's forcing house 56 

Tarragon 66 

Tomato 67 

Under-glass staples 46 

Ventilators 29 

Violet 94 

Wash room 36 

Water cress 87 

Windbreak 15 

Winter work room 36 

Wyman's mushroom house 85 



M B - 2 3. 9 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



In the pages of this little book the primary aira has 
been to present facts ; not to put forward the Dreer brand 
of this or that as being the only thing of its kind on 
the market. 

Nevertheless it is proper to remind the public that 
we have for sale all the under-glass requisites, including 
sashes, tools, implements and fertilizers, and all the seeds 
and roots needed by amateurs and professional gardeners. 

We can materially aid beginners in under-glass work 
in the choice of varieties of vegetables most likely to be 
profitable for market or satisfactory for domestic use. 

Communications will receive prompt attention. Our 
catalogues can be had on request. 

Hknry a. Dre^KR, Incorporated, 
Seedsmen and Florists, 

714 Chestnut street, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 



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